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.

A method of fabricating a semiconductor substrate includes the following steps. A carrier substrate is provided, and a plasma treatment is performed on the surface of the carrier substrate. A polycrystalline semiconductor layer is formed on the surface of the carrier substrate. A rapid thermal treatment is then performed on the polycrystalline semiconductor layer. A buried dielectric layer is then formed on the polycrystalline semiconductor layer. Afterwards, a single crystalline semiconductor layer is formed on the buried dielectric layer.

A process for preparing a support comprises the placing of a substrate on a susceptor in a chamber of a deposition system, the susceptor having an exposed surface not covered by the substrate; the flowing of a precursor containing carbon in the chamber at a deposition temperature so as to form at least one layer on an exposed face of the substrate, while at the same time depositing species of carbon and of silicon on the exposed surface of the susceptor. The process also comprises, directly after the removal of the substrate from the chamber, a first etch step consisting of the flowing of an etch gas in the chamber at a first etching temperature not higher than the deposition temperature so as to eliminate at least some of the species of carbon and silicon deposited on the susceptor.

A substrate processing apparatus includes: configured to support a plurality of substrates; a chamber sidewall surrounding at least a side surface of the substrate support; and an upper plate including a plurality of plate portions on the substrate support and spaced apart from the substrate support. The plurality of plate portions and the substrate support collectively at least partially define a plurality of process regions between the plurality of plate portions and the substrate support and a separation between at least two process regions of the plurality of process regions. The plurality of process regions include a pretreatment process region between the pretreatment process plate portion and the substrate support and having a first height, and a deposition process region between the deposition process plate portion and the substrate support and having a second height, greater than the first height.

A method of performing heteroepitaxy comprises exposing a substrate to a carrier gas, a first precursor gas, a Group II/III element, and a second precursor gas, to form a heteroepitaxial growth of one of GaAs, AlAs, InAs, GaP, InP, ZnSe, GaSe, CdSe, InSe, ZnTe, CdTe, GaTe, HgTe, GaSb, InSb, AlSb, CdS, GaN, and AlN on the substrate; wherein the substrate comprises one of GaAs, AlAs, InAs, GaP, InP, ZnSe, GaSe, CdSe, InSe, ZnTe, CdTe, GaTe, HgTe, GaSb, InSb, AlSb, CdS, GaN, and AlN; wherein the carrier gas is Hz, wherein the first precursor is HCl, the Group II/III element comprises at least one of Zn, Cd, Hg, Al, Ga, and In; and wherein the second precursor is one of AsH.sub.3 (arsine), PH.sub.3 (phosphine), H.sub.2Se (hydrogen selenide), H.sub.2Te (hydrogen telluride), SbH.sub.3 (hydrogen antimonide), H.sub.2S (hydrogen sulfide), and NH.sub.3 (ammonia). The process may be an HVPE (hydride vapor phase epitaxy) process.

Methods for etching a semiconductor structure and for conditioning a processing reactor in which a single semiconductor structure is treated are disclosed. An engineered polycrystalline silicon surface layer is deposited on a susceptor which supports the semiconductor structure. The polycrystalline silicon surface layer may be engineered by controlling the temperature at which the layer is deposited, by grooving the polycrystalline silicon surface layer or by controlling the thickness of the polycrystalline silicon surface layer.

A method includes forming a doped region on a top portion of a substrate, forming a first epitaxial layer over the substrate, forming a recess in the first epitaxial layer, the recess being aligned to the doped region, performing a surface clean treatment in the recess, the surface clean treatment includes: oxidizing surfaces of the recess to form an oxide layer in the recess, and removing the oxide layer from the surfaces of the recess, and forming a second epitaxial layer in the recess.

A substrate made of doped single-crystal silicon has an upper surface. A doped single-crystal silicon layer is formed by epitaxy on top of and in contact with the upper surface of the substrate. Either before or after forming the doped single-crystal silicon layer, and before any other thermal treatment step at a temperature in the range from 600° C. to 900° C., a denuding thermal treatment is applied to the substrate for several hours. This denuding thermal treatment is at a temperature higher than or equal to 1,000° C.

A method of manufacturing nitride semiconductor substrate, comprising: providing silicon-on-insulator substrate which comprises an underlying silicon layer, a buried silicon dioxide layer and a top silicon layer; forming a first nitride semiconductor layer on the top silicon layer; forming, in the first nitride semiconductor layer, a plurality of notches which expose the top silicon layer; removing the top silicon layer and forming a plurality of protrusions and a plurality of recesses on an upper surface of the buried silicon dioxide layer, wherein each of the plurality of protrusions is in contact with the first nitride semiconductor layer, and there is a gap between each of the plurality of recesses and the first nitride semiconductor layer; and epitaxially growing a second nitride semiconductor layer on the first nitride semiconductor layer, such that the first nitride semiconductor layer and the second nitride semiconductor layer form a nitride semiconductor substrate.

A method of forming conductive member includes: forming, on substrate, first portion containing first element constituting the conductive member to be obtained and second element causing eutectic reaction with the first element, and second portion containing third element constituting intermetallic compound with the second element; crystallizing primary crystals of the first element by adjusting temperature of the substrate after bringing the first portion into liquid phase state; growing crystal grains of the first element by diffusing the second element from the first portion into the second portion to increase ratio of the first element in crystal state to the first and second elements in the liquid phase state in the first portion while maintaining the temperature of the substrate at the same temperature; and turning the first portion, after completing diffusion of the second element into the second portion, into the conductive member having crystal grains of the first element.