Thermodynamic design of a high temperature chemical vapor deposition process to synthesize α-SiC in Si-C-H and Si-C-H-Cl systems

In this study, we thermodynamically reviewed the suitable growth process conditions of α-SiC in the Si-C-H system using tetramethylsilane (TMS) and in the Si-C-H-Cl system using methyltrichlorosilane (MTS). In the Si-C-H-Cl system, pure solid SiC was obtained at high temperatures under a larger range of hydrogen dilution ratios than that tolerated in the Si-C-H system. X-ray diffraction and micro-Raman analysis of the products obtained at 1900, 2000, and 2100 °C showed that the α-SiC becomes more dominant with increasing temperature in the Si-C-H-Cl system. While TMS was unsuitable for high temperature processing due to its high C/Si ratio, MTS was found to be appropriate for growing α-SiC crystals at high temperatures under a range of conditions. These results indicate that a novel method to grow α-SiC single crystals through HTCVD using MTS as a precursor could be established.