Raman studies of Ge-promoted stress modulation in 3C-SiC grown on Si(111)

TLDR: In this paper, a study of the stress state in cubic silicon carbide (3C-SiC) thin films (120 and 300 nm) grown by solid-source molecular-beam epitaxy (SSMBE) on Si(111) substrates modified by the deposition of germanium prior to carbonization of Si.

Abstract: We present a study of the stress state in cubic silicon carbide (3C–SiC) thin films (120 and 300 nm) grown by solid-source molecular-beam epitaxy (SSMBE) on Si(111) substrates modified by the deposition of germanium prior to the carbonization of Si. μ-Raman measurements were used to determine the residual stress existing in the 3C–SiC layers. The stress is found to decrease linearly with increasing Ge quantity but with different strength depending on the 3C–SiC thickness deposited after the introduction of Ge. Based on secondary ions mass spectroscopy (SIMS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analyses it is suggested that the Ge introduced prior to the carbonization step remains in the near-interface region and reduces the Si outdiffusion, which further reduces the stress state of the 3C–SiC layers.