Influence of silicon carbide interlayer evolution on diamond heteroepitaxy during bias enhanced nucleation on silicon substrates

In order to improve the crystalline quality of diamond films produced by microwave plasma assisted chemical vapour deposition (MPCVD), the structural evolution of the silicon carbide interlayer during the bias nucleation step has been investigated by reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED). Here we highlight the fact that the carbonisation pre-treatment induces a strong extension of the silicon carbide lattice in the direction perpendicular to the surface. This extension gives a lattice constant close to that of silicon. Then, during bias enhanced nucleation, the carbide lattice relaxes. At the same time, this modification is accompanied by an increase of the surface roughness and by a progressive polar misorientation of the silicon carbide. All these transformations could be responsible for the observed drop of the diamond epitaxial ratio when the duration of the bias step is extended. Finally, we found that a lower methane concentration in the plasma slows down this carbide transformation, allowing us to obtain a promising 37% epitaxial ratio. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.