Large Area Thin Film Silicon Carbide Using Zone Melt Synthesis and LPE

AstroPower is developing a new process for the growth of large area, thin film 3C-SiC using a proprietary deposition technique followed by liquid phase epitaxy (LPE). Successful development of the growth process will provide high quality, thin film SiC in typical silicon wafer areas, allowing compatibility with existing silicon circuit foundries for devices where SiC is the material of choice. New techniques will be used to control the crystallization of SiC on single crystal silicon and anneal out defects at the SiC/Si interface. LPE layers will form device active layers providing high quality material by further annealing growth defects and minimizing stress induced defects which plague state-of-the-art 3C-SiC on silicon. SiC offers a unique combination of properties that are ideal for semiconductor devices which operate at high temperatures or deliver high power at microwave frequencies and is a suitable material for the fabrication of wide bandgap LEDs and detectors.