Kinetics and modeling of sublimation growth of silicon carbide bulk crystal

A growth kinetics model, which assumes that the growth rate is related to t he supersaturation of a rate-determining reactant, is developed to study th e mechanism of silicon carbide growth by physical vapor transport. To exami ne the dependence of growth rate on growth temperature and inert gas pressu re, two different growth conditions are considered, one with a small axial temperature gradient in the growth chamber, 2 K/cm, and the other with a la rge axial temperature gradient, 20K/cm. The study is conducted for a range of inert gas pressure as well as the growth temperature. It is observed tha t the growth rate has an Arrhenius-like dependence on growth temperature ex cept when the growth temperature is high. The low temperature growth is usu ally associated with a small-scale system that has a larger axial temperatu re gradient, while the high temperature growth occurs in a scaled-up system . An integrated model that considers the RF induction heating, radiation-co nduction heat transfer and growth kinetics, has been developed to predict t he magnetic field, temperature distribution and growth rate profile. The mo del can help in the design and development of large-scale growth systems. ( C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.