SiC Epitaxy Basics

In this tutorial, we will cover the fundamentals of silicon carbide epitaxy starting with a brief overview of SiC material properties and the reasons the 4H-polytype is ideally suited for power device applications. We will review the entire SiC manufacturing chain and epitaxy’s place within that chain. We will also provide an overview of the history, present status, and future direction of epitaxy tool development. The heart of the course starts with detailed descriptions of the most commonly used SiC epitaxy tools in the field today, including their respective strengths and weaknesses.

The physical processes occurring during the growth will be examined, especially in relation to control of layer thickness and doping, along with control of defect levels. Typically used characterization techniques will be presented. Finally, to wrap things up, we will discuss current epitaxial layer specifications.