Heteroepitaxy of Wide Band Gap Semiconductors on Silicon Substrates

The wide band gap semiconductors SiC and GaN have shown great potential for use in high-temperature, high-power and high-frequency electronic devices as well as short-wavelength optical devices. However, the lack of large-area and low-cost substrates hindered their development seriously. Thus, the heteroepitaxy of SiC and GaN on silicon substrates is highly desirable for the Si-based electronic industry. In this study, we investigated the epitaxy of 3C-SiC and hexagonal GaN on silicon substrates and related devices. High quality 3C-SiC epilayers were deposited with trimethylsilane and silane/propane precursors, respectively. Inversion- mode n-channel 3C-SiC MOSFET devices with high channel mobility have been successfully fabricated. For GaN growth, AlGaN/GaN heterostructures were grown on 100 mm diameter Si(111) substrates without cracking using a high-temperature AlN buffer layer and a 3C-SiC buffer layer. In addition, the growth of hexagonal GaN on Si(100) substrates was demonstrated for the first time using a sputtered AlN buffer layer followed by a MOCVD grown AlN buffer layer.

Autorentext

Jianwei Wan has been working for Dow Corning Corporation (Midland, Michigan) in the field of SiC epitaxy after receiving his Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University (West Lafayette, Indiana) in 2002. He also holds a B.S. degree and a M.S. degree in Physics from Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.