Ion beam synthesis of 3C-SiC layers in Si and its application in buffer layer for GaN epitaxial growth

Abstract A 180 keV carbon implantation with an ion dose of 8.0 ± 1.0 × 10 17 C + /cm 2 into Si(1 1 1) wafer has been investigated in order to examine the synthesis of 3C-SiC at the substrate temperature T s = RT to 800 °C and in the subsequent annealing treatment at the temperature T a = 1000–1250 °C/2 h. The combination at T s ≈ 500 °C and at T a > 1200 °C is the most suitable for the synthesis of crystalline 3C-SiC with the same orientation of the Si(1 1 1) substrate. The crystalline 3C-SiC layer was used as a buffer layer for the formation of GaN/SiC/Si structure using MOVPE for the GaN growth. After removal of upper layers on the 3C-SiC by chemical etching, a crack-free epitaxial GaN layer of 3 μm thickness has been successfully synthesized.