Formation of interfacial dislocations (IDs) and dislocation half-loop arrays (HLAs) and their appearance in 4H-SiC epi-wafers are investigated by X-ray topography and KOH etching analysis. Synchrotron reflection X-ray topography demonstrates the ability to image IDs and HLAs simultaneously and reveal their densities as well as spatial distributions in the epi-wafers. The vertical location of IDs in the epi-wafer is also examined by this technique. The influence of wafer warp, in-situ H2 etching prior to epitaxial growth, substrate off-angle as well as the growth face (Si-face and C-face) on the densities and spatial distributions of IDs and HLAs are discussed.

Growth and characterization of p-type 4H-SiC epitaxial layers grown on (11-20) substrates are reported. P-type 4H-SiC epilayers with smooth surface morphology have been grown on (11-20) substrates by low-pressure, hot-wall type CVD with SiH4–C3H8–H2–TMA system. The doping concentration can be controlled in the range from about 1×1016cm−3 to 1×1019cm−3. Anisotropy of the crystalline quality is observed by x-ray diffraction measurement. P-type epilayers, in which near band-gap emissions are dominated and D-A pair peak is not observed, are obtained. Hole mobility of (11-20) epilayers is smaller than that of (0001) epilayers probably due to the lack of crystalline quality compared to (0001) epilayers. The results of both low-temperature photoluminescence and the temperature dependence of Hall effect measurements indicate that the boron concentration as undoped impurity in (11-20) epilayer is lower than that of (0001) epilayer. This may be caused by the smaller incorporation efficiency of boron into (11-20) epilayer than that of (0001) epilayer.