Stress distribution at the AlN/SiC heterointerface probed by Raman spectroscopy

TL;DR

This study uses confocal Raman spectroscopy to analyze the nanoscale stress and strain distribution at the AlN/SiC heterointerface, revealing compressive stress behavior influenced by thermal expansion differences.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed nanoscale mapping of stress tensor components at the AlN/SiC heterointerface using Raman spectroscopy.

Findings

SiC layers are compressively strained despite smaller lattice parameters.

Maximum compressive stress at the interface approaches 1 GPa.

Stress relaxes over several tens of microns from the heterointerface.

Abstract

We grow AlN/4H-SiC and AlN/6H-SiC heterostructures by physical vapor deposition and characterize the heterointerface with nanoscale resolution. Furthermore, we investigate the spatial stress and strain distribution in these heterostructures using confocal Raman spectroscopy. We measure the spectral shifts of various vibrational Raman modes across the heterointerface and along the entire depth of the 4H- and 6H-SiC layers. Using the earlier experimental prediction for the phonon-deformation potential constants, we determine the stress tensor components in SiC as a function of the distance from the AlN/SiC heterointerface. In spite that the lattice parameter of SiC is smaller than that of AlN, the SiC layers are compressively strained at the heterointerface. This counterintuitive behavior is explained by different coefficients of thermal expansion of SiC and AlN when the heterostructures are cooled from growth to room temperature. The compressive stress values are maximum at the heterointerface, approaching one GPa, and relaxes to the equilibrium value on the scale of several tens of microns from the heterointerface.