3C-SiC nanocrystal growth on 10 miscut Si(001) surface

The growth of 3C-SiC nano-crystal (NC) on 10 miscut Si(001) substrate by CO₂ thermal treatment is investigated by scanning and high resolution transmission electron microscopies. The vicinal Si(001) surface was thermally oxidized prior to the annealing at 1100 C under CO₂ atmosphere. The influence of the atomic steps at the vicinal SiO₂/Si interface on the SiC NC growth is studied by comparison with the results obtained for fundamental Si(001) substrates in the same conditions. For Si miscut substrate, a substantial enhancement in the density of the SiC NCs and a tendency of preferential alignment of them along the atomic step edges is observed. The SiC/Si interface is abrupt, without any steps and epitaxial growth with full relaxation of 3C-SiC occurs by domain matching epitaxy. The CO₂ pressure and annealing time effect on NC growth is analyzed. The as-prepared SiC NCs can be engineered further for potential application in optoelectronic devices and/or as a seed for homoepitaxial SiC or heteroepitaxial GaN film growth.