Application of in-situ 3D computed tomography during PVT growth of 4H-SiC for the study of source material consumption under varying growth conditions

2D and 3D in-situ X-ray visualization was applied to study the behavior of the SiC source material during PVT growth under various growth conditions. Experiments were carried out in two growth chambers for the growth of 3 inch and 4 inch crystals. Growth parameters were varied in the gas room in terms of axial temperature and inert gas pressure. The study addresses the stability of the SiC source material surface. It is shown that a higher inert gas pressure (e.g. 25 mbar) inhibits an unintentional upward evolution of the SiC feedstock that interferes with the crystal growth interface. The latter is related to a suppression of a pronounced recrystallization inside the SiC source. For a low inert gas pressure (e.g. 10 mbar) it is concluded that the axial temperature gradient inside the source material needs to be decreased to less than ca. 10 K/cm.