Abstract
Cubic silicon carbide (3C-SiC) has superior mobility and thermal
conduction than that of widely applied hexagonal 4H-SiC. Moreover, much
lower concentration of interfacial traps between insulating oxide gate
and 3C-SiC helps fabricate reliable and long-life devices like
metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs). However,
the growth of high quality and wafer-scale 3C-SiC crystals has remained
a big challenge up to now despite of decades-long efforts by researchers
because of its easy transformation into other polytypes during growth,
limiting the development of 3C-SiC based devices. Herein, we report that
3C-SiC can be made thermodynamically favored from nucleation to growth
on a 4H-SiC substrate by top-seeded solution growth technique (TSSG),
beyond what’s expected by classic nucleation theory. This enables the
steady growth of high-quality and large-size 3C-SiC crystals
(2~4-inch in diameter and 4.0~10.0 mm in
thickness) sustainable. The as-grown 3C-SiC crystals are free of other
polytypes and have high crystalline quality. Our findings broaden the
mechanism of hetero-seed crystal growth and provide a feasible route to
mass production of 3C-SiC crystals, offering new opportunities to
develop power electronic devices potentially with better performances
than those based on 4H-SiC.