%0 Journal Article 
%A Benamra, Yamina
%A Auvray, Laurent
%A Andrieux, Jérôme
%A Cauwet, François
%A Alegre Salguero, María de la Paz
%A Lloret, Laurent
%A Araújo Gay, Daniel
%A Gutiérrez Peinado, Marina
%A Ferro, Gabriel
%T Epitaxial Growth of Boron Carbide on 4H-SiC
%D 2023
%@ 1662-9779

%U http://hdl.handle.net/10498/32569
%X In this work, the successful heteroepitaxial growth of boron carbide (BxC) on
4H-SiC(0001) 4° off substrate using chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is reported. Towards this end,
a two-step procedure was developed, involving the 4H-SiC substrate boridation under BCl3 precursor
at 1200°C, followed by conventional CVD under BCl3 + C3H8 at 1600°C. Such a procedure allowed
obtaining reproducibly monocrystalline (0001) oriented films of BxC with a step flow morphology at
a growth rate of 1.9 µm/h. Without the boridation step, the layers are systematically polycrystalline.
The study of the epitaxial growth mechanism shows that a monocrystalline BxC layer is formed after
boridation but covered with a B- and Si-containing amorphous layer. Upon heating up to 1600°C,
under pure H2 atmosphere, the amorphous layer was converted into epitaxial BxC and transient
surface SiBx and Si crystallites. These crystallites disappear upon CVD growth.
%K 4H-SiC
%K Boron carbide
%K Heteroepitaxy
%K CVD
%~ Universidad de Cádiz