SILICON CARBIDE CRYSTALS GROWN IN NITROGEN ATMOSPHERE

Abstract

Silicon carbide crystals grown in atmosphere containing nitrogen were studied by X-ray and electrical measurements. As the first result, it was shown that with the increase of nitrogen in argon atmosphere, the quantity of the 3C polytype in the grown crystals increases and finally, in pure nitrogen atmosphere, 3C becomes dominant with a trace of 6H. Next, the difference Fourier synthesis, together with the measurements of the lattice constants and the electrical properties, offered a probable explanation of this dominancy of 3C that nitrogen atoms incorporated interstitially in the structure play a rôle of preventing the 3C structure from transforming into α-silicon carbide structures.