Heteroepitaxial Growth of Single 3C-SiC Thin Films on Si (100) Substrates Using a Single-Source Precursor of Hexamethyldisilane by APCVD

This paper describes the heteroepitaxial growth of single-crystalline 3C-SiC (cubic silicon carbide) thin films on Si (100) wafers by atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (APCVD) at 1350 oC for micro/nanoelectromechanical system (M/NEMS) applications, in which hexamethyldisilane (HMDS, Si2(CH3)6) was used as a safe organosilane single-source precursor. The HMDS flow rate was 0.5 sccm and the H2 carrier gas flow rate was 2.5 slm. The HMDS flow rate was important in obtaing a mirror-like crystalline surface. The growth rate of the 3C-SiC film in this work was 4.3 μm/h. A 3C-SiC epitaxial film grown on the Si (100) substrate was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED), atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Raman scattering, respectively. These results show that the main chemical components of the grown film were single-crystalline 3C-SiC layers. The 3C-SiC film had a very good crystal quality without twins, defects or dislocations, and a very low residual stress.