Analysis of basal plane dislocation dynamics in 4H-SiC crystals during high temperature treatment

Direct observation of thermal gradient induced motion of basal plane dislocations by insitu synchrotron X-ray topography imaging of PVT-grown 4H-SiC wafers subject to high temperature treatment has provided an opportunity to analyze the movement of dislocations. Dislocations with Burgers vector along the off-cut [11-20] direction were found to be the only dislocations involved in deformation during heat treatment and the segments of dislocations used for velocity measurements were found to be either pure screw comprised of both Si-and C-core partials or 60° dislocations comprised of purely Si cores. Using the kink-diffusion model, the activation energies for dislocation motion have been calculated from the velocity data for each of these dislocation types and found to be 3.28eV for pure screw and 2.21 eV for 60° dislocation segments, respectively.