Monte Carlo study of morphological surface instabilities during misoriented epitaxial growth of cubic and hexagonal polytypes
Abstract
In this article, using kinetic Monte Carlo simulations, we study two morphological instabilities, namely step bunching and step meandering, that are known to occur during the epitaxial growth of Silicon Carbide on misoriented substrates. Specifically, we analyze the simulated final, i.e. after the growth process, step roughness (related to the step meandering instability) as function of the growth and temperature during growth of cubic SiC polytype for substrates with miscut towards the [110] and [112¯] directions and compare these results with recent experimental findings. We also study the simulated final terrace width distribution (related to the step bunching instability) as function of the substrate polytype finding that the cubic polytype does not suffer of neither the geometrical nor the energetic surface instability. For this reason the cubic polytype, showing a better planarity, could be a good candidate for subsequent metallization or oxidation processes. Finally, we show that, on the basis of the simulated morphologies of the hexagonal polytypes with miscut towards the [1-100] direction it is possible to indicate solutions to increase the quality of the heteroepitaxial growth of 3C on 6H.
- Publication:
-
2010 Wide Bandgap Cubic Semiconductors: from Growth to Devices
- Pub Date:
- November 2010
- DOI:
- 10.1063/1.3518295
- Bibcode:
- 2010AIPC.1292...19C
- Keywords:
-
- Monte Carlo methods;
- epitaxial growth;
- semiconductor materials;
- microscopy;
- dislocations;
- 61.43.Bn;
- 81.15.Kk;
- 82.45.Vp;
- 68.37.Ps;
- 61.72.Hh;
- Structural modeling: serial-addition models computer simulation;
- Vapor phase epitaxy;
- growth from vapor phase;
- Semiconductor materials in electrochemistry;
- Atomic force microscopy;
- Indirect evidence of dislocations and other defects