4. Theoretical Monte Carlo study of the formation and evolution of defects in the homo-epitaxial growth of SiC

We use three dimensional kinetic Monte Carlo simulations on super-lattices to analyze the nucleation and evolution of several defects during the homoepitaxial growth of 4H silicon carbide. We show also that stacking faults can either extend throughout the entire epilayer (i.e. extended from the substrate up to the surface) or close in dislocation loops, in dependence of the surface kinetics, finding a close connection between the observed behaviors and surface instabilities (step bunching, step meandering). In the case of <11-20> misoriented 4H homoepitaxial growths, we find that all the stacking faults that generate intragap leves can be closed using far from equilibrium growth conditions, i.e. low temperature high growth rate depositions.