Solid and Liquid State Dewetting of Thin Silicon Films Sandwiched between Two Silicon Carbide Substrates
Authors: Le Cunff Maëlle , Cherkashin Nikolay , Rieutord Francois , Landru Didier , Kononchuk Oleg 
Published: February 2024

Silicon carbide (SiC) is a very promising material for power electronics thanks to its wide band gap and high thermal conductivity. Stacking of SiC substrates of different crystalline quality and/or doping levels through wafer bonding is of particular interest for applications. Although a direct SiC/SiC bonding may result in an unstable interface, a layer of intermediate material playing a role of a “glue” can be sandwiched between the SiC substrates to ensure their good attachment. However, the processing of the power electronics devices at a high temperature may degrade the properties of this material which evolution under high temperature annealing must be studied in advance.

In this work, we exploited the possibility to use silicon (Si) as a bonding material. We studied the structure evolution of a nanometer-thick polycrystalline Si layer sandwiched between two monocrystalline SiC substrates with a high temperature annealing. We focused our attention on understanding the impact of as-bonded Si layer thickness and the temperature of annealing on the eventual Si layer morphology. Tests were conducted for Si films of as-bonded thickness of 8 nm, 20 nm and 40 nm at temperatures ranging from 950°C to 1400°C, i.e. below Si melting temperature of 1414°C, and above it up to 1700°C. The experiments were realized using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and high-resolution X-ray diffraction techniques. Cross-sectional TEM images were used to describe the structure and morphology of the interface. SEM was used to observe the inner surface of one of the SiC substrates once the other was removed by a cleavage. X-ray measurements were carried out to determine Si film thickness and texture as well as the strain in Si and SiC.

We show that annealing at temperatures ranging from 950°C to 1400°C results in pitting, i.e. creation of voids, at the Si/SiC interfaces which are observed for any studied as-bonded thickness of a Si layer. We attribute this effect to a solid state dewetting of Si from SiC. This dewetting effect evolves into complete piercing of the silicon film and formation of cylindrical voids within the Si layer which grow in diameter with annealing temperature. We also observe a thickening of the silicon layer. The driving force for a solid state dewetting will be discussed in terms of SiC/Si interface energy, vacancies precipitation and Si atoms diffusion.

When annealed to relatively higher temperatures allowing for Si melting followed by its solidification, we put into evidence the formation of step bunching on the internal surfaces of both SiC substrates. Regarding Si, it is concentrated along the SiC steps. The mechanism of the reconstruction of SiC internal surfaces resulting in the creation of step bunching will be discussed in relation to Si liquid state dewetting, carbon atoms dissolution, recondensation and migration within liquid Si.

The effect of as-bonded silicon film thickness on the Si dewetting process is not pronounced after annealing at 950°C: all samples contain pits of a similar size and density. When the annealing temperature is slightly increased above 1000°C, the pits in the Si films of a lower initial thickness transform into cylindrical voids piercing the layers. The thicker layers contain both pits and cylindrical voids. At a high enough temperature of 1400°C only cylindrical voids were observed in all samples. The thicker layers present the lowest densities of voids.

For the annealing at temperatures higher than 1400°C, the as-bonded thickness of a Si layer had a direct impact on the height of the steps formed on the internal surfaces of the SiC substrates. The eventual steps were higher the thicker the Si layer was used for bonding.

The role of the diffusion and interaction of Si and C atoms and vacancies during annealing will be discussed in relation to the dynamics of solid and liquid state Si dewetting, size and density of pits and cylindrical voids and eventual Si layer morphology.

Figure 1, on the left, SEM images showing the evolution of Si solid state dewetting with annealing temperature, from pitting to the formation of cylindrical voids. On the right, SEM and cross-sectional TEM images showing the step bunching on the SiC internal surfaces and the Si accumulation at the steps obtained after Si liquid state dewetting.

Figure 1