Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 February 2011
In the present study we report the first results pertaining to the heteroepitaxial growth of Ti films on 6H-SiC (0001). The Ti epitaxial films of typically 400–1000 Å thickness have been deposited at room temperature in ultra-high vacuum (< 10−9 torr) using both thermal and electron beam evaporation sources. In-vacuo techniques of low energy electron diffraction (LEED) and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) have been used to monitor the surface structure and interface chemistry during growth. An unreconstructed (1×1) ordered LEED pattern corresponding to that of the SiC (0001) surface was observed for all Ti coverages. Epitaxial growth of Ti has been confirmed from cross-sectional TEM diffraction patterns and images, which indicate the presence of threading dislocations to relieve a 4% lattice mismatch strain. Rutherford backscattering (RBS) with channeling of 2 MeV He+ ions gave X = 0.71 for Ti deposited at room temperature. Current-voltage measurement for both un-annealed and annealed Ti contacts displayed rectifying characteristics with low leakage currents (≈, 6 nA at −10V) and low ideality factors (1.02–1.08).