Optimizing the flatness of 4H-silicon carbide wafers by tuning the sequence of lapping

Abstract In this letter, we optimize the flatness of 4H silicon carbide (4H-SiC) wafers by tuning the sequence of single-sided lapping, enlightened by the different mechanical properties of the Si face and C face of 4H-SiC. After wire sawing, the coarse lapping and fine lapping are carried out to rapidly remove the surface damage and optimize the flatness of 4H-SiC wafers. From the point of view of controlling the values of the bow and warp of 4H-SiC wafers, the coarse-lapping sequence of the C-face lapping followed by Si-face lapping is beneficial, while the preferred fine-lapping sequence is Si-face lapping followed by C-face lapping. Nanoindentation tests indicate that the C face has higher hardness and lower fracture toughness than the Si face. This gives rise to thicker surface damage at the C face after the wire sawing. After removing the same amount of wire-sawing induced surface damage, the thickness of residual surface damage of the C face is higher than that of the Si face after the coarse lapping. The fine lapping basically removes all the surface damage and creates the near-perfect C face and Si face. The higher amount of surface damage of the C face after the coarse lapping and the higher fracture toughness of the near-perfect Si face after the fine lapping can tolerate more plastic deformations, which gives rise to the superior flatness of the C-face-followed-by-Si-face coarse lapped and the Si-face-followed-by-C-face fine lapped 4H-SiC wafers, respectively.