Simulation of the large-area growth of homoepitaxial 4H-SiC by chemical vapor deposition

The growth of thick epitaxial 4H-SiC layers with low defect density is an e ssential step for the fabrication of SiC based devices. Cold- and hot-wall reactors using silane and propane diluted in hydrogen were used in this stu dy. The typical growth temperature range is 1700-1900 K and total pressure range 10-100 kPa. The resulting epilayers exhibit low background doping, lo w defect density and good thickness uniformity. The main problem is that it is difficult with this first generation of reactors to ensure a good unifo rmity of deposition over large wafer dimension. A 3D simulation approach of heat and mass transfer was used with two objectives. The first one is to e valuate the electrical, thermal, transport and kinetic databases. The secon d one is to have a visualization and a quantification of the flow, temperat ure and gaseous species fields for a better understanding of engineering pr oblems at elevated temperatures.