Effect of 4H-SiC Wafer Processing on Surface Quality.

4H-SiC wafer processing is a critical step for high-quality substrate wafers manufacture, which directly affects the performance of epitaxial films and the following devices. In this work, the properties including surface morphology, roughness, mechanical performance and crystal quality of 4H-SiC wafers processed by sawing, grinding, lapping and CMP have been investigated. It has been found that 4H-SiC wafer processing is beneficial to remove the surface damages and to improve the surface quality of wafers. The mechanical properties of the C-face and Si-face of 4H-SiC exhibit anisotropic. Due to the worse material toughness, brittle fracture is more intense during the C-face processing. Therefore, the material removal rate of the C-face is higher, and the surface morphology and roughness are relatively worse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]