Synthesis of epitaxial 3C-SiC by C60 carbonization of silicon on sapphire Original Research Article

C60 molecule deposition onto commercial SOS (silicon on sapphire) wafers with (001) silicon on r-plane (11̄02) sapphire results in the formation of silicon carbide (SiC), if substrate temperatures of 810 °C are exceeded. Elastic recoil spectroscopy indicates the formation of a stoichiometric SiC layer. X-ray pole figure measurements show that the main part of the resulting cubic 3C-SiC grows epitaxially with the underlaying silicon. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopic investigations indicate as well that the 3C-SiC exhibits an epitaxial relationship to the Si matrix and that the resulting SiC grains grow columnarly.