Further Evidence of Nitrogen Induced Stabilization of 3C-SiC Polytype during Growth from a Si-Ge Liquid Phase

The influence of nitrogen impurity on the stabilization of 3C-SiC polytype has been studied during vapour-liquid-solid (VLS) growth on 6H-SiC(0001) seed with Si-Ge melt. By changing the partial pressure of N2 during growth, it was found that the proportion of 3C-SiC inside the grown material increases with N2 partial pressure. 6H inclusions are only found for high purity (low N2 content) conditions. The possible interactions proposed to explain this effect are divided in two effects: i) lattice parameter modification and ii) surface induced lateral enlargement variation. A combination of both effects is suspected.