Stress nature investigation on heteroepitaxial 3C-SiC film on (100) Si substrates

To understand the impact that the growth rate has on the residual stress of chemical vapor deposition-grown 3C-SiC heteroepitaxial films on Si substrates, growth experiments were performed. The film thickness was held constant at similar to 2.5 mu m independent of the growth rate so as to allow for direct film comparison as a function of the growth rate. Stress analysis performed by profilometer curvature measurement, mu l chi rho o-Raman shift analysis and micro-machined freestanding structures, show an apparent disagreement about the stress nature. This incongruity between the experimental data can be explained assuming a strong stress field located in the substrate related to defects generated in the silicon during the growth process.