Patent attributes
A semiconductor material having a stepwise surface structure of (0001)-plane terraces and (11-2n)-plane steps [n≧0] on the SiC substrate, a semiconductor device using the same and a method of producing the semiconductor material in which a carbon-rich surface is formed on the SiC substrate prior to epitaxial growth of an SiC crystal, the carbon-rich surface satisfies the ratio R=(I284.5/I282.8)>0.2, wherein I282.8 (ISiC) is an integrated intensity of a C1s signal having a peak at the binding energy relating to stoichiometric SiC (in the region of 282.8 eV), and I284.5 (IC) is an integrated intensity of a C1s signal having a peak at the binding energy relating to graphite, SiCx (x>1), or SiyCH1-y (y<1) (in the region of 284.5 eV), as measured by an X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic analyzer (XPS).
