The present invention addresses the issue of providing: an SiC substrate having a dislocation conversion layer that can reduce resistance; and a novel technology pertaining to SiC semiconductors. This SiC substrate and SiC semiconductor device comprise a dislocation conversion layer 12 having a doping concentration of at least 1×10.sup.15 cm.sup.−3. As a result of comprising a dislocation conversion layer 12 having this kind of doping concentration: expansion of basal plane dislocations and the occurrence of high-resistance stacking faults can be suppressed; and resistance when SiC semiconductor devices are produced can be reduced.

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to apparatus, systems, and methods for in-situ film growth rate monitoring. A thickness of a film on a substrate is monitored during a substrate processing operation that deposits the film on the substrate. The thickness is monitored while the substrate processing operation is conducted. The monitoring includes directing light in a direction toward a crystalline coupon. The direction is perpendicular to a heating direction. In one implementation, a reflectometer system to monitor film growth during substrate processing operations includes a first block that includes a first inner surface. The reflectometer system includes a light emitter disposed in the first block and oriented toward the first inner surface, and a light receiver disposed in the first block and oriented toward the first inner surface. The reflectometer system includes a second block opposing the first block.

The present invention addresses the problem of providing novel techniques for manufacturing a SiC substrate that enables reduced material loss when a strained layer is removed. The present invention is a method for manufacturing a SiC substrate 30 which includes a strained layer thinning step S1 for thinning a strained layer 12 of a SiC substrate body 10 by moving the strained layer 12 to a surface side. Including such a strained layer thinning step S1 in which the strain layer is moved to (concentrated toward) the surface side makes it possible to reduce material loss L when removing the strained layer 12.

A SiC single crystal is produced by impregnating a molten alloy of silicon and a metallic element M that increases carbon solubility into a SiC sintered body to form a SiC crucible, placing silicon and M in the crucible and heating the crucible to melt the silicon and M and form a Si—C solution, dissolving silicon and carbon in the solution from surfaces of the crucible in contact with the solution, contacting a SiC seed crystal with the top of the solution to grow a first SiC single crystal on the SiC seed crystal by a solution process, and bulk growing a second SiC single crystal on a face of the solution-grown first SiC single crystal by a sublimation or gas process. This method enables a low-dislocation, high-quality SiC single crystal to be produced by a vapor phase process.

A method for simultaneously manufacturing more than one single crystal of a semiconductor material by physical vapor transport (PVT) includes connecting a pair of reactors to a vacuum pump system by a common vacuum channel and creating and/or controlling, with the vacuum pump system, a common gas phase condition in the inner chambers of the pair of reactors. Each reactor has an inner chamber adapted to accommodate a PVT growth structure for growth of a semiconductor single crystal.

The invention provides a SiC single crystal production apparatus with high uniformity of temperature distribution in a crystal growth vessel. The SiC single crystal production apparatus includes a crystal growth vessel containing SiC raw material; an insulation part covering the periphery of the crystal growth vessel; a heater used to heat the crystal growth vessel; and a holding member used to hold the crystal growth vessel, wherein the crystal growth vessel is held in a suspended state by the holding member.

The invention provides a SiC single crystal production apparatus with high uniformity of temperature distribution in a crystal growth vessel. The SiC single crystal production apparatus includes a crystal growth vessel containing SiC raw material; an insulation part covering the periphery of the crystal growth vessel; a heater used to heat the crystal growth vessel; and a holding member used to hold the crystal growth vessel, wherein the crystal growth vessel is held in a suspended state by the holding member.

A silicon carbide single crystal has a first main surface, a second main surface, a first silicon carbide region, and a second silicon carbide region. The first silicon carbide region and the second silicon carbide region each include a silicon carbide single crystal of 4H polytype. A value obtained by dividing the number of void defects in the first silicon carbide region by the sum of the number of the void defects in the first silicon carbide region and the number of void defects in the second silicon carbide region is 0.8 or more. In a cross section parallel to the first main surface, the void defect each have a major axis of 1 μm to 1000 μm.

Methods and systems of heating a substrate in a vacuum deposition process include a resistive heater having a resistive heating element. Radiative heat emitted from the resistive heating element has a wavelength in a mid-infrared band from 5 μm to 40 μm that corresponds to a phonon absorption band of the substrate. The substrate comprises a wide bandgap semiconducting material and has an uncoated surface and a deposition surface opposite the uncoated surface. The resistive heater and the substrate are positioned in a vacuum deposition chamber. The uncoated surface of the substrate is spaced apart from and faces the resistive heater. The uncoated surface of the substrate is directly heated by absorbing the radiative heat.

A SiC ingot includes: a main body including a first cross-sectional plane of the main body and a second cross-sectional plane of the main body facing the first cross-sectional plane; and a protrusion disposed on the second cross-sectional plane and including a convex surface from the second cross-sectional plane of the main body, wherein a first end point disposed at one end of the second cross sectional plane, a second end point disposed at another end of the second cross sectional plane, and a peak point disposed on the convex surface are disposed on a third cross-sectional plane of the main body perpendicular to the first cross-sectional plane, and wherein a radius of curvature of an arc corresponding to a line of intersection between the third cross-sectional plane and the convex surface satisfies Equation 1 below:
3D≤r≤37D  [Equation 1]
where r is the radius of curvature of the arc corresponding to the line of intersection between the third cross-sectional plane and the convex surface, and D is a length of a line of intersection between the first cross-sectional plane and the third cross-sectional plane.