Synthesis of large area, monocrystalline TiC as a substrate for heteroepitaxial growth of beta-SiC

The purpose of this program was to investigate an alternative method of synthesizing large area TiC monocrystals by a procedure involving multiple chemical vapor deposition (CVD) steps. The proposed method consisted of (1) heteroepitaxial growth of beta-SiC on Si by CVD, (2) gettering of defects in the beta-SiC, and (3) heteroepitaxial growth of TiC on beta-SiC by CVD. Because of numerous technical difficulties, DMI's effort was limited to CVD of beta-SiC on Si. DMI developed a process to etch Si and deposit beta-SiC on Si at a constant temperature of 1300 C without cycling the temperature between etching step and CVD step. Beta-sic was grown using methyltrichlorosilane (CH3SiCl3) without prior carburizing the Si surface. The microstructure of the deposited Beta-SiC film evolved from highly oriented cubic subgrains which coalesced into a smooth, continuous film.