Analysis and Reduction of Stacking Faults in Fast Epitaxial Growth

We have developed a single-wafer vertical epitaxial reactor which realizes high-throughput production of 4H-SiC epitaxial layer (epilayer) with a high growth rate [1,2]. In this paper, in order to evaluate the crystalline defects which can affect the characteristics of devices, we investigated the formation of variety of in-grown stacking faults (SFs) in detail. Synchrotron X-ray topography, photoluminescence (PL) and transmission electron microscopy are employed to analyze the SFs and the origins of the SF formation are discussed. The result in reducing in-grown SFs in fast epitaxial growth is also shown.