• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
• /
• v.32 no.6
• /
• pp.522-527
• /
• 2019

In order to fabricate high-quality SiC substrates for power electronic devices, various single crystal growing methods were prepared. These include the physical vapor transport (PVT) and top seeded solution growth (TSSG) methods. All the suggested SiC growth methods generally use induction-heating furnaces. The temperature distribution in this system can be easily adjusted by changing the hot-zone design. Moreover, precise temperature control in the induction-heating furnace is favorably required to grow a high-quality crystal. Therefore, in this study, we analyzed the heat transfer in these furnaces to grow SiC crystals. As the growth temperature of SiC crystals is very high, we evaluated the effect of radiation heat transfer on the temperature distribution in induction-heating furnaces. Based on our simulation results, a heat transfer strategy that controls the radiation heat transfer was suggested to obtain the optimal temperature distribution in the PVT and TSSG methods.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
• /
• v.27 no.3
• /
• pp.143-147
• /
• 2017

To evaluate surface characteristics and improve crystalline quality of AlN single crystal grown by physical vapor transport (PVT) method, wet chemical etching process using $KOH/H_2O_2$ mixture in a low temperature condition and thermal annealing process was proceeded respectively. Conventional etching process using strong base etchant at a high temperature (above $300^{\circ}C$) had formed over etching phenomenon according to crystalline quality of materials. When it occurred to over etching phenomenon, it had a low reliability of dislocation density because it cannot show correct number of etch pits per estimated area. Therefore, it was proceeded to etching process in a low temperature (below $100^{\circ}C$) using $H_2O_2$ as an oxidizer in KOH aqueous solution and to be determined optimum etching condition and dislocation density via scanning electron microscope (SEM). For improving crystalline quality of AlN single crystal, thermal annealing process was proceeded. When compared with specimens as-prepared and as-annealed, full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the specimen as-annealed was decreased exponentially, and we analyzed the mechanism of this process via double crystal X-ray diffraction (DC-XRD).

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
• /
• v.23 no.6
• /
• pp.279-282
• /
• 2013

Recently, it has been interested much that AlN (Aluminum Nitride) crystals can be applied to UV LEDs and high power devices as like GaN and SiC crystals. The reports about commercial grade of AlN wafers in the world have been absent, however several results for growth of large size of AlN single crystals have been reported from abroad. In this report, the result of AlN single crystals of a diameter of about 8 mm grown are reported. Optical microscopic characterization was applied to observe the form of the crystals and the crystal quality was evaluated by FWHM measurement by DCXRD rocking curve analysis.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
• /
• v.11 no.2
• /
• pp.61-64
• /
• 2010

In this paper, we investigate the quality difference of SiC crystals grown by a conventional physical vapor transport method using various SiC powders. While the growth rate was revealed to be dependent upon the particle size of the SiC powder, the growth rate of SiC bulk crystals grown using SiC powder with a smaller particle size (20 nm) was definitely higher than those using lager particle sizes with $0.1-0.2\;{\mu}m$ and $1-10\;{\mu}m$, respectively. All grown 2 inch SiC single crystals were proven to be the polytype of 6H-SiC and the carrier concentration levels of about $10^{17}\;cm^3$ were determined from Hall measurements. It was revealed that the particle size and process method of SiC powder played an important role in obtaining a good quality, high growth rate, and to reduce growth temperature.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.94-100
• /
• 1999

Mercurous chloride($Hg_2Cl_2$) crystals hold promise for many acousto-optic and opto-electronic applications, which are prepared in closed ampoules by the physical vapor transport(PVT) growth methods. The thermal boundary conditions established by imposing different temperature on sidewalls of the enclosure cause simultaneous horizontal and vertical convectie flow in the PVT processes of$Hg_2Cl_2$ . It is found that for the ratios of horizontal to vertical thermal Rayleigh numbers$Ra_H/Ra{\ge}1.5$, the convective flow structure changes from multicellular to unicellular for the base parametric state of Ra=($2.79{\times}10^4$) , Pr=0.91, Le=1.01, Pe=4.60, Ar=0.2 and$C_V =1.01$. For the $\Delta T^{*}_H$ greater than 0.3, the $$\mid$U$\mid$_{max}$is increased with increasing $\Delta$ T^{*}_H$ and decreasing the aspect ratio. For the aspect ratios ranging from 0.1 to 1.0, there is a direct and linear relationship between $$\mid$U$\mid$_{max}$ and $\sqrt{{\Delta}T^_H\;^{\ast}}$.A decrease in the aspect ratio destabilizes the convective flow and results in an increase of the magnitude of convection in the crystal growth reactor. The vertical gradient tends to destabilize the convective flow which leads to oscillations, whereas the horizontal gradient stabilizes the convection.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
• /
• v.19 no.7
• /
• pp.673-679
• /
• 2006

A sublimation method using the SiC seed crystal and SiC powder as the source material is commonly adopted to grow SiC bulk single crystal. However, it has proved to be difficult to achieve the high quality crystal and the process reliability because SiC single crystal should be grown at very high temperature in closed system. In this study, SiC crystal boules were prepared with different angles in trapezoid-shaped graphite seed holders using sublimation physical vapor transport technique (PVT) and then their crystal quality was systematically investigated. The temperature distribution in the growth system and the crystal shape were varied with angles in trapezoid-shaped graphite seed holders, which was successfully simulated using 'Virtual Reactor'. The SiC polytype proved to be the n-type 6H-SiC from the typical absorption spectrum of SiC crystal. The micropipe densities of SiC wafers in this study were measured to be < $100/cm^2$. Consequently, SiC single crystal with large diameter was successfully achieved with changing angle in trapezoid-shaped graphite seed holders.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
• /
• v.26 no.11
• /
• pp.656-661
• /
• 2016

4H- and 6H-SiC grown by physical vapor transport method were investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). From the TEM diffraction patterns observed along the [11-20] zone axis, 4H- and 6H-SiC were identified due to their additional diffraction spots, indicating atomic stacking sequences. However, identification was not possible in the [10-10] zone axis due to the absence of additional diffraction spots. Basal plane dislocations (BPDs) were investigated in the TEM specimen prepared along the [10-10] zone axis using the two-beam technique. BPDs were two Shockley partial dislocations with a stacking fault (SF) between them. Shockley partial BPDs arrayed along the [0001] growth direction were observed in the investigated 4H-SiC. This arrayed configuration of Shockley partial BPDs cannot be recognized from the plan view TEM with the [0001] zone axis. The evaluated distances between the two Shockley partial dislocations for the investigated samples were similar to the equilibrium distance, with values of several hundreds of nanometers or even values as large as over a few micrometers.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
• /
• v.33 no.3
• /
• pp.245-248
• /
• 2020

The wettability of silicon carbide (SiC) crystal, which has 6H-SiC and 4H-SiC regions prepared using the physical vapor transport (PVT) method, is quantitatively analyzed using dispensed deionized (DI) water droplets. Regardless of the polytypes in SiC, the average of five contact angle measurements showed a difference of about 6° between the Si-face and C-face. The contact angle on the Si-face (C-face) is measured after the removal of the native oxide using BOE (6:1), and revealed a significant decrease of the contact angle from 74.9° (68.4°) to 47.7° (49.3°) and from 75.8° (70.2°) to 51.6° (49.5°) for the 4H-SiC and 6H-SiC regions, respectively. The contact angle of the Si-face recovered over time during room temperature oxidation in air; in contrast, that of the C-face did not recover to the initial value. This study shows that the contact angle is very sensitive to SiC surface polarity, specific surface conditions, and process time. Contact angle measurements are expected to be a rapid way of determining the surface polarity and wettability of SiC crystals.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
• /
• v.32 no.6
• /
• pp.516-521
• /
• 2019

The top seeded solution growth (TSSG) method is an alternative technique to grow high-quality SiC crystals that has been actively studied for the last two decades. However, the TSSG method has different issues that need to be resolved when compared to the commercial SiC crystal growing method, i.e., physical vapor transport (PVT). A particular issue of the TSSG method of results from the presence of liquid droplets on the grown crystal that can remain even after crystal growth; this induces residual stress on the crystal surface. Hence, the residual droplet causes several unwanted effects on the crystal such as the initiation of micro-cracks, micro-pipes, and polytype inclusions. Therefore, this study investigated the formation of the residual droplet through multiphysics simulations and lead to the development of a liquid droplet removal method. As a result, we found that although residual liquid droplets significantly apply residual stress on the grown crystal, these could be vaporized by adopting thermal annealing processes after the relevant crystal growing steps.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
• /
• v.32 no.2
• /
• pp.100-103
• /
• 2019

The change in vanadium amount according to the growth direction of vanadium-doped semi-insulated (SI) SiC single crystals using high-purity SiC powder was investigated. High-purity SiC powder and a porous graphite (PG) inner crucible were placed on opposite sides of SiC seed crystals. SI SiC crystals were grown on 2 inch 6H-SiC Si-face seeds at a temperature of $2,300^{\circ}C$ and growth pressure of 10~30 mbar of argon atmosphere, using the physical vapor transport (PVT) method. The sliced SiC single crystals were polished using diamond slurry. We analyzed the polytype and quality of the SiC crystals using high-resolution X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy. The resistivity of the SI SiC crystals was analyzed using contactless resistivity mapping (COREMA) measurements.