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arXiv · 2310.17221

Epitaxial Growth of Boron Carbide on 4H-SiC

Yamina Benamra·Laurent Auvray·Jérôme Andrieux·François Cauwet·Maria-Paz Alegre·Fernando Lloret·Daniel Araujo·Marina Gutierrez·Gabriel Ferro
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Abstract

In this work, the successful heteroepitaxial growth of boron carbide (B x C) on 4HSiC(0001) 4{\textdegree} off substrate using chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is reported. Towards this end, a two-step procedure was developed, involving the 4H-SiC substrate boridation under BCl 3 precursor at 1200{\textdegree}C, followed by conventional CVD under BCl 3 + C 3 H 8 at 1600{\textdegree}C. Such a procedure allowed obtaining reproducibly monocrystalline (0001) oriented films of B x C with a step flow morphology at a growth rate of 1.9 $\mu$m/h. Without the boridation step, the layers are systematically polycrystalline. The study of the epitaxial growth mechanism shows that a monocrystalline B x C layer is formed after boridation but covered with a B-and Si-containing amorphous layer. Upon heating up to 1600{\textdegree}C, under pure H 2 atmosphere, the amorphous layer was converted into epitaxial B x C and transient surface SiB x and Si crystallites. These crystallites disappear upon CVD growth.

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Yamina Benamra, Laurent Auvray, Jérôme Andrieux, François Cauwet, Maria-Paz Alegre, Fernando Lloret, Daniel Araujo, Marina Gutierrez, Gabriel Ferro. 2023-10-26. Epitaxial Growth of Boron Carbide on 4H-SiC. https://arxiv.org/abs/2310.17221

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