Study of the impact of growth and post-growth processes on the surface morphology of 4H silicon carbide films

In this paper we study the surface morphology of <11-20< 4° degree off, silicon terminated, 4H Silicon Carbide (4H-SiC) in terms of growth parameters and post growth argon thermal annealing. We find that out-of-equilibrium conditions favor the reduction of the surface roughness. Furthermore, we find preliminary indications that the same growth parameters that lead to the reduction of the surface roughness promote also a reduction of (1,3) and (4,4) stacking faults density. © (2012) Trans Tech Publications.