Epitaxial growth of TiC on (0001) 4H-SiC substrate by reactive sputtering

Heteroepitaxial TiC films were grown on semi-insulating (0001) 4H-SiC substrates at high temperature by using direct current (DC) magnetron reactive sputtering. The effect of the CH₄ flux ratio in Ar on the crystalline quality of the films was investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) results show that the deposited TiC films are heteroepitaxially grown on 4H-SiC substrates with the heteroepitaxial relationship between TiC and 4H-SiC in (111)_TiC // (0001)_4H-SiC and [11¯0]_TiC // [112¯0]_4H-SiC. The full width at half-maximum (FWHM) of X-ray rocking curve (XRC) of (111)_TiC reflection can reach a minimum value of 0.039° and the resistivity of TiC film can be ∼ 80 μΩ⋅cm for deposition at 700 °C with 4% CH₄ flow ratio. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) shows that the composition of TiC film is nearly in stoichiometry for 4% CH₄ flow ratio. From the TEM results, it is observed that the TiC film is divided into a strained layer and a relaxed layer when the film thickness reaches a critical value over about 70 nm.