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In this study, the correlation between the Emission Microscopy (Em.Mi.) related to the failure site of the 4H-SiC 650V MOSFET devices after reliability test and epitaxial dislocation defects is presented. Devices failed at the High-Temperature Reverse Bias (HTRB) test were considered. Device layers have been stripped out by chemical wet etching and etched in a high temperature KOH solution to characterize defects emerging at the SiC surface. This approach was used to correlate failure emission spots with underlying structure of the material. KOH etching process on delayered devices was performed at 500°C for 10 minutes and then analysis by optical microscopy and SEM was carried out for defect classification and correlation with failure location.

We investigated the relation between the nucleation of dislocations and the lattice misfits by nitrogen concentration difference between seed and grown crystal during the initial stage of growth. 4H-SiC single crystals were grown with various nitrogen gas flow rates introduced into the crystal growing chamber under the same temperature and pressure to minimize the effect of thermal stress on the nucleation of dislocations. The nitrogen atomic concentrations of grown crystals depended on the introduced nitrogen gas ratios and they highly increased at the very early stage of growth. The generation of new threading dislocations at the interface also was affected by the nitrogen atomic concentrations differences between seed and grown crystals. Very few generated threading dislocations were observed in low nitrogen atomic concentration samples, however nucleation of threading dislocations at the interface were found in high nitrogen atomic concentrations samples. At initial stages of PVT growth process, the generation of threading dislocations induced by lattice misfits originated from nitrogen concentration difference between seed and grown crystals were investigated and found the appropriate nitrogen gas flow rates and profile at the heating and depressurized stage.

We have studied threading dislocations (TDs) in 4H-SiC by means of X-ray topography (XRT) taken under 6 equivalent g-vector of 11-28 and two different chemical etching methods. Threading screw and mixed-type dislocations (TSDs and TMDs) can be distinguished and the direction of the a-components of TMDs can be determined by XRT. Efforts have been made to examine if there are features of etch pits that can be used to distinguish TMDs from TSDs.

Threading dislocations (TDs) in an HVPE-grown free-standing GaN substrate have been studied by means of etch pit method using molten KOH+Na2O2 solution, cathodoluminescence (CL) mapping and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). We have focused on the correlation between (1) Burgers vectors of TDs, (2) their appearances as dark spots in CL image, and (3) geometries of corresponding etch pits. Based on the above results, dislocation categorization for GaN by using etch pits or CL is discussed.

The distribution of extended defects in silicon carbide (SiC) crystals grown on profiled seeds by the sublimation (physical vapor transport) method has been studied by optical microscopy in combination with chemical etching. It is established that free lateral growth on protruding relief elements (mesas) is accompanied by a sharp decrease in the density of threading dislocations and micropipes. The decreased density of dislocations is retained after growing a thick layer that involves the overgrowth of grooves that separated individual mesas.

Solution growth of high-quality 4H-SiC bulk crystals has been performed by using Si-Cr based melt at 2000°C. Through enlargement of crystal diameter which is controlled by meniscus height during growth, dislocation free area has been successfully obtained on the periphery of the crystal. However, the threading dislocations in the seed crystal have penetrated into the grown crystal and have been located around the center of the crystal. To reduce dislocation density in the grown crystals, we have used threading-dislocation-free seedcrystals prepared by solution growth on (1-100). The solution growth on the seed crystal sliced from the (1-100) crystal has resulted in very low dislocation density of grown crystals. In an area of 16 mm2 for the growth surface, no dislocation has been detected.

The influence of surface pit shape on 4H-SiC double implanted MOSFETs (DMOSFETs) reliability under a high temperature drain bias test has been investigated. Threading dislocations formed two types of pit shapes (deep pit and shallow pit) on an epitaxial layer surface. The cause of the failure was revealed to be an oxide breakdown above the pit generated at the threading mixed dislocation in both pit shapes. Weibull distributions between two types of pits were different. Although the DMOSFETs on the epitaxial layer with the deep pit show longer lifetime than those with the shallow pit, the epitaxial layer with the shallow pit is suitable to estimate the lifetime of the DMOSFETs because of a linearity of the Weibull plot. The lifetime of the DMOSFETs with the shallow pit was dominated by an oxide electric field. The maximum oxide electric field required to obtain the lifetime of more than 10 years was estimated to be 2.7 MV/cm.

— The distribution of extended defects in silicon carbide (SiC) crystals grown on profiled seeds by the sublimation (physical vapor transport) method has been studied by optical microscopy in combination with chemical etching and AFM. It is established that free lateral growth on protruding relief elements (mesas) is accompanied by a sharp decrease in the density of threading dislocations and micropipes. The decreased density of dislocations is retained after growing a thick layer that involves the overgrowth of grooves that separated individual mesas.

Solution growth of SiC has attracted significant attention due to its potential for the production of high-quality SiC wafers. We have recently investigated the dislocation propagation behavior during SiC solution growth with the aim of reducing the dislocation density. Threading dislocations were found to be converted to defects on the basal planes during solution growth. Utilizing this dislocation conversion phenomenon, we have proposed a dislocation reduction process during solution growth and achieved high-quality 4H-SiC crystal growth. Here we confirm the potential of SiC solution growth for the production of high-quality SiC wafers.

This paper introduces our recent challenges in fast 4H-SiC CVD growth and defect reduction. Enhanced growth rates in 4H-SiC epitaxial growth by high-speed wafer rotation and in a high-temperature gas source method promoting SiC bulk growth by increasing the gas flow velocity are demonstrated. Trials and results of deflecting threading dislocations by patterned C-face 4H-SiC epitaxial growth are also shown.

Nomarski optical microscopic, KOH etching and synchrotron topographic studies are presented of faint needle-like surface morphological features in 4H-SiC homoepitaxial layers. Grazing incidence synchrotron white beam x-ray topographs show V shaped features which transmission topographs reveal to enclose 1/4[0001] Frank-type stacking faults. Some of these V-shaped features have a tail associated with them and are referred to as Y-shaped defects. Geometric analysis of the size and shape of the V-shaped faults indicates that they are fully contained within the epilayer and appear to be nucleated at the substrate/epilayer interface. Detailed analysis shows that the positions of the V-shaped stacking faults match with the positions of c-axis threading dislocations with Burgers vectors of c or c+a in the substrate and thus appear to result from the deflection of these dislocations onto the basal plane during epilayer growth. Similarly, the Y-shaped defects match well with the substrate surface intersections of c-axis threading dislocations with Burgers vectors of c or c+a in the substrate which were deflected onto the basal plane during substrate growth. Based on the observed morphology of these defect configurations we propose a model for their formation mechanism.

This paper demonstrates high-resolution photoluminescence (PL) imaging and discrimination of threading dislocations in 4H-SiC epilayers. Threading screw dislocations (TSDs) and TEDs are distinguished by differences in PL spot size and spectrum. We found that TEDs are further discriminated into six types according to their Burgers vector directions by the appearance of PL imaging. Cross-sectional PL imaging reveals inclination angles of threading dislocations across a thick epilayer.

Studies of threading dislocations with Burgers vector of c+a have been carried out using synchrotron white beam X-ray topography. The nucleation and propagation of pairs of opposite sign threading c+a dislocations is observed. Overgrowth of inclusions by growth steps leads to lattice closure failure and the stresses associated with this can be relaxed by the nucleation of opposite sign pairs of dislocations with Burgers vector c+a. Once these dislocations are nucleated they propagate along the c-axis growth direction, or can be deflected onto the basal plane by overgrowth of macrosteps. For the c+a dislocations, partial deflection can occasionally occur, e.g. the a-component deflects onto basal plane while the c-component continuously propagates along the growth direction. One factor controlling the details of these deflection processes is suggested to be related to the ratio between the height of the overgrowing macrostep and that of the surface spiral hillock associated with the threading growth dislocations with c-component of Burgers vector.

Boron Phosphide (BP) layers have been grown on Si (100) as a substrate for cubic GaN heteroepitaxy. Si heavy doping was attempted to reduce the threading dislocation density in the BP. To observe the effect on dislocations in BP by Si doping, we used cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (XTEM). Also, Glow Discharge-Optical Emission Spectroscopy (GDOES) were used to evaluate the effect of Si doping. For the samples under the conditions (a) and (e), we found the formation of pits at BP surface and an increasing in the proportion of threading dislocations with an angle of 90 ° to the surface. We could not see a significant change in the threading dislocation density by Si doping under the conditions used in this paper.

Structures and propagating behaviors of threading dislocations (TDs) in PVT-grown 4H-SiC single crystals were both investigated using Synchrotron monochromatic X-ray topography. Comparative studies by examining images obtained for the crystals with different diffraction geometries of (0004) and (11-20) of 4H-SiC revealed that a large amount of TDs are likely to be mixed in character, i.e., dislocations with Burgers vector components of both and . Closer observations of topography images has revealed that, although TDs lie largely along the c-axis direction, some of the TDs show quite a complex propagating behavior: not extending in a straight line but meandering along the growth direction.

A review is presented of Synchrotron White Beam X-ray Topography (SWBXT) studies of stacking faults observed in PVT-Grown 4H-SiC crystals. A detailed analysis of various interesting phenomena were performed and one such observation is the deflection of threading dislocations with Burgers vector c/c+a onto the basal plane and associated stacking faults. Based on the model involving macrostep overgrowth of surface outcrops of threading dislocations, SWBXT image contrast studies of these stacking faults on different reflections and comparison with calculated phase shits for postulated fault vectors, has revealed faults to be of basically four types: (a) Frank faults; (b) Shockley faults; (c) Combined Shockley + Frank faults with fault vector s+c/2; (d) Combined Shockley + Frank faults with fault vector s+c/4.

The impacts of threading dislocations, surface defects, donor concentration, and schottky Schottky barrier height on the reverse IV characteristic of silicon carbide (SiC) junction barrier schottky Schottky (JBS) diodes were investigated. The 100 A JBS diodes were fabricated on 4H-SiC 3-inch N-type wafers with two types of threading dislocation density. The typical densities are were 0.2×104 and 3.8×104 cm-2, respectively. The improvement of vIt was found that variations in the leakage current and the high yield of large area JBS diodes werecould be were obtained improved by using a wafer with a low threading dislocation density. In the range of low leakage current, the investigation shows showed a correlation between leakage current and threading dislocation density.

A new method for the separation of threading screw dislocations (TSD) and threading edge dislocations (TED) in a 4H-SiC epitaxial layer is proposed by measurement of the etch pit angles. The etch pit angles of the TSDs and TEDs were 28±3 and 18±3°, respectively. In the case of etch pit depths within the epitaxial layer, the values were almost constant. Almost all of the TSDs were converted from basal plane dislocations (BPDs) at the epitaxial layer/substrate interface.

Dislocations were investigated in the halo-carbon low-temperature epitaxial growth and low-temperature selective epitaxial growth (LTSEG) conducted at 13000C. The origin of triangular defects was investigated in low-temperature epilayers grown at higher growth rates with HCl addition. Due to the conversion of substrates’ basal plane dislocations (BPD) into threading dislocations, the concentration of BPDs was about an order of magnitude lower than the concentration of threading dislocations at moderate growth rates. An additional order of magnitude conversion of BPDs into threading dislocations was observed at higher grow rates achieved with HCl addition. In LTSEG epilayers, dislocation concentration away from the mesa walls was comparable to the blanket (i.e., regular non-selective) growth. High concentrations of BPDs were found only at mesa edges located on the “upstream” side with respect to the step-flow direction. No substrate defects could be traced to the triangular defects. Instead, the disturbances causing the triangular defect generation are introduced during the epitaxial process.

Basal Plane Dislocations (BPD) in SiC are thought to cause degradation of bipolar devices as they can trigger the formation and expansion of stacking faults during device operation. Therefore, epilayers without any BPD are strongly recommended for the achievement of long-term reliable bipolar devices. Such epilayers can be achieved by supporting the conversion of BPD into Threading Dislocations (TD), which depends on the epitaxial growth mode (as described in literature). In this work, the influence of several pre-treatments of the SiC substrate prior to epitaxial growth and different epitaxial growth parameters on the reduction of the BPDs in the SiC epilayers was investigated on 4° off-axis substrates. The dislocation content in substrates and epilayers was determined by Defect Selective Etching (DSE) in molten KOH. The averaged BPD density in epitaxial layers can be reduced to < 100 cm-2 for substrate preparation techniques and to < 30 cm-2 for well-suited epitaxial growth parameters. A certain combination of epitaxial growth parameters leads to < 3 BPD/cm2 in the epitaxial layer.

Nitride-based optoelectronic devices prepared in the c orientation have been successfully introduced to the global marketplace and are changing the way we think about lighting. A part of the research interest has shifted toward nonpolar and semipolar orientations, which has the potential to broaden the scope and impact of this technology. This is because quantum-well structures prepared in nonpolar and semipolar orientations are able to suppress the quantum-confinement Stark effect, which has a negative impact on optoelectronic device performance. The lower crystal symmetry of such orientations provides spontaneously polarized light emission. Despite these attractive properties of nonpolar and semipolar orientations, the corresponding materials growth is not trivial. The present chapter discusses our efforts on growth of III-nitride materials in nonpolar and semipolar orientations and the related material properties.

Transmission electron microscope analysis of microstructure in AlGaN/AlN thin layers was performed to investigate the behavior of threading dislocations (TDs). The absolute values of the Burgers vectors (B) of TDs were determined from the change in number of thickness fringes in the weak-beam dark-field images. In the AlGaN/AlN thin layers grown on α-Al 2 O 3 (0001) substrate, there were a lot of TDs propagating along [0001] with B=a, where a is the corresponding axis vector. These TDs were observed to bend at the hetero-interface of AlGaN/AlN. It was confirmed that the bending direction is normal to B and that the extra half plane associated with the TD decreases in area by the bending. Precise measurement of the in-plane lattice dimensions showed that there exists a compressive strain in AlGaN on the hetero-interface. These results revealed that control of internal stress is an important factor to govern the behavior of TDs.

A non-destructive technique to image the dislocations and other extended defects in SiC epitaxial layers has been developed. Basal plane dislocations (BPDs) and threading dislocations (TDs) are imaged. Photoluminescence from the dislocations is excited with the 364 and/or 351 nm lines of an argon ion laser and near-infrared light is collected. A computer controlled probe station takes multiple images and the mm-sized images are stitched together to form whole-wafer maps. The technique is applied to a set of four n+ wafers from the same boule with 50 um n- epitaxial layers. The epitaxy was grown with Cree’s low-BPD process. BPDs form as either single, isolated dislocations or as clusters encircling micropipes. The concentration of TDs is on the order 104/cm2 and the local concentration varies more than an order of magnitude. The advantages of mapping dislocations by UV-PL imaging compared to other techniques are discussed.

The structure of the “star” defect in 4H-SiC substrates and its effects on the extended defect structures in the epilayers were studied by molten KOH etching and transmission x-ray topography. Star defects consist of a center region with high densities of threading dislocations (both edge and screw types) and six arms of dislocation arrays extending along directions. In addition, multiple linear dislocation arrays extending perpendicular to the off-cut direction were observed in the epilayers. Dislocation arrays extending along directions are consistent with the slip bands generated by the prismatic slip: a/3{1-100}. Bands of linear dislocation arrays extending perpendicular to the off-cut direction correspond to the threading edge dislocations nucleated during epitaxial growth.

Using plan-view transmission electron microscopy (TEM), we have identified stacking faults (SFs) in 4H-SiC PiN diodes subjected to both light and heavy electrical bias. Our observations suggest that the widely expanded SFs seen after heavy bias are faulted dislocation loops that have expanded in response to strain of the 4H-SiC film, while faulted screw or 60° threading dislocations do not give rise to widely expanded SFs. Theoretical calculations show that the expansion of SFs depends on the Peach-Koehler (PK) forces on the partial dislocations bounding the SFs, indicating that strain plays a critical role in SF expansion.

Using the anisotropic elasticity theory, we analyze preferential orientations and stability of threading dislocations in hexagonal AlN and SiC. The effect of growth surface on the orientation of low-mobility dislocations is considered. The theoretical predictions are compared with recent observations on CVD-grown 4H-SiC.

The atomic structures and electrical properties for threading screw and threading edge dislocations of wurtzite GaN are calculated within the local-density approximation. Both dislocations are electrically inactive with a band gap free from deep levels. These results are understood to arise from relaxed core structures which are similar to (1010) surfaces. The threading screw dislocations are found to be stable with an open-core whereas the threading edge dislocations possess filled cores.