Lateral epitaxial overgrowth and Pendeo epitaxy of 3C-SiC on Si substrates

Lateral Epitaxial Overgrowth (LEO) experiments on 3C-SiC were conducted on patterned substrates. Due to the high CVD growth temperatures required for high-quality single-crystal 3C-SiC, dielectric mask materials with higher thermal stability than SiO2 were used. Experiments were performed with amorphous Si3N4 deposited via PECVD and AlN, deposited both by PLD and MOCVD. These masks were deposited and patterned on (100) Si substrates containing a 4 μm 3C-SiC epitaxial layer grown using a standard 3C-SiC growth process. Single crystal 3C-SiC was regrown in the mask window regions. However, polycrystalline 3C-SiC nucleated on the mask stripes for the growth conditions studied. Pendeo epitaxy (PE) was performed on the same material where the 3C-SiC epilayer was etched to form 3C-SiC stripes on a (100) Si substrate. It appears that Pendeo epitaxy was achieved with lateral and vertical growth on the 3C-SiC columns having been observed.