Differences in SiC thermal oxidation process between crystalline surface orientations observed by in-situ spectroscopic ellipsometry

For a better understanding of the SiC oxidation mechanism, we investigated differences in the oxidation process for surfaces with different crystal orientations. Real-time observations of oxidation processes for (0001) Si-face, (11 (2) over bar0) a-face, and (000 (1) over bar) C-face substrates at various oxidation temperatures were performed using in-situ spectroscopic ellipsometry. Massoud's empirical equation, which is composed of the classical Deal-Grove equation added by an exponential term, was applied to the observed growth rates and the oxidation rate parameters were extracted by curve fitting. The SiC oxidation mechanism is discussed in terms of the oxidation temperature dependence and surface orientation dependence of the oxidation rate parameters. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.