Different behavior of threading edge dislocation conversion during the solution growth of 4H–SiC depending on the Burgers vector

Threading edge dislocation (TED) conversion during the solution growth of SiC was investigated by synchrotron X-ray topography. TEDs were converted to basal plane dislocations by lateral growth with the advance of macrosteps on the growth surface during the solution growth. TEDs with the Burgers vector parallel to the step-flow direction were converted to basal plane dislocations with a high probability. On the other hand, the conversion ratio of TEDs whose Burgers vector is not parallel to the step-flow direction was much lower. The variation in elastic energy of the basal plane dislocations after the conversion depending on the Burgers vectors led to the different behavior of TED conversion.