Microstructural and Compositional Characterization of SiC-On-Insulator Structures

Abstract As the size of Si integrated circuit structures is continually reduced, interest in semiconductor-oninsulator (SOI) structures has heightened. SOI structures have already been developed for Si using oxygen ion implantation. However, the application of Si devices is limited due to the physical properties of Si. As an alternative to Si, SiC is a potentially important semiconductor for high-power, high-speed, and high-temperature electronic devices. Therefore, this material is a candidate for expanding the capabilities of Si-based technology. In this study, we performed oxygen ion implantation into bulk SiC to produce SiC-on-insulator structures. We examined the microstructures and compositional distributions in implanted specimens using transmission electron microscopy and a scanning transmission electron microscope equipped with an energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometer (STEM-EDX). Figures 1(a) and 2(a) show bright-field images of 6H-SiC implanted with 180 keV oxygen ions at 650 °C to fluences of 7xl017 and 1.4xl018 cm−2, respectively. Three regions with distinct image contrast are apparent in Figs. 1(a) and 2(a), as indicated by A, B, and C.