Oxide Growth Rate Enhancement of Silicon Carbide (0001) Si-Faces in Thin Oxide Regime

Abstract

Thermal oxidation process of silicon carbide (SiC) has been studied by performing in-situ spectroscopic ellipsometry. In our previous work, we, for the first time, found that the growth rates of SiC(0001) C-face at oxidation thicknesses less than around 20 nm are much higher than those given by the Deal–Grove (D–G) model. In this report, we show that such a growth rate enhancement occurs also in the oxidation of SiC(0001) Si-face. By applying the empirical equation proposed by Massoud et al. [J. Electrochem. Soc. 132 (1985) 2685] to the oxidation of SiC Si-face and comparing the temperature and oxygen partial pressure dependences of oxidation rate parameters obtained with those for C-face, we discuss the difference in oxidation mechanism between SiC Si- and C-faces.