Epitaxial and bulk growth of cubic silicon carbide on off-oriented 4H-silicon carbide substrates

Abstract: The growth of bulk cubic silicon carbide has for a long time seemed to be something for the future. However, in this thesis the initial steps towards bulk cubic silicon carbide have been taken. The achievement of producing bulk cubic silicon carbide will have a great impact in various fields of science and industry such as for example the fields of semiconductor technology within electronic- and optoelectronic devices and bio-medical applications. The process that has been used to grow the bulk cubic silicon carbide is a modification of the seeded sublimation growth, and the seeds have been grown by sublimation epitaxy. Selected samples have been characterized with a variety of different methods. The surface morphology of the samples has been examined using optical microscope, atomic force microscope and scanning electron microscope. The crystal structure has been investigated by the methods X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. The electrical resistance of the grown seeds was evaluated by four probe measurements. High crystal quality seeds have been grown with semiconductor properties and bulk silicon carbide was demonstrated using the seeds.