SiCGe ternary alloys have been grown on SiC by hot-wall low-pressure chemical vapour deposition. It has been found that the samples cxhibit an island configuration, and the island growth of SiCGe epilayer depends on the processing parameters such as the growth temperature. When the growth temperature is comparatively low, the epilayer has two types of islands： onc is spherical island; another is cascading triangular island. With the increase of the growth temperature, the islands change from spherical to cascading triangular mode. The size and density of the islands depend on the growth duration and GeH4 flow-rate. A longer growth time and a larger GeH4 flow-rate can increase the size and density of the island in thc initial stage of the epitaxy. In our case, The optimal growth for a high density of uniform islands occurred at a growth temperature of 1100℃ for l-minute growth, with 10 SCCM GeH4, resulting in a narrow size distribution （about 30nm diameter） and high density （about 3.5 ×10^10 dots/cm2）. The growth follows Stranski- Krastanov modc （2D to 3D modc）, both of the islands and the 2D growth layer have face-centred cubic structure, and the critical thickness of the 2D growth layer is only 2.5 nm.
Growth of SiCGe ternary alloy on 6H-SiC in a conventional hot-wall CVD system was initially studied. SiH4, GeH4 and C3H8 were employed as silicon, germanium and carbon source, respectively, while H2 was employed as the carrier gas. To reduce the heavy lattice mismatch between the film and the substrate, a 3C-SiC buffer layer was inserted between them in a CVD process. Optimizing the growth conditions was discussed. The samples were measured by means of SEM, SAXRD (Small Angle X-Ray Diffraction). It is shown that use of the 3C-SiC buffer layer is an effective way to improve the quality of the ternary alloy.
Tan Changxing Chen Zhiming Pu Hongbin Lu Gang Li Lianbi
A light-activated Darlington heterojunction transistor based on a SiCGe/3C-SiC hetero-structure is proposed for anti-EMI（electromagnetic interference） applications. The performance of the novel power switch is simulated using ISE. In comparison with the switches based on other polytypes of SiC,the design benefits from having fewer lattice mismatches between the SiCGe and 3C-SiC. A maximum common emitter current gain of about 890 and superb light-activation characteristics may be achievable. The performance simulation demonstrates that the device has a good I-V characteristic with a turn-on voltage knee of about 4V.
