Low temperature epitaxial growth of metal carbides using fullerenes

Epitaxial transition metal carbides can be deposited at low temperatures by simultaneous evaporation of C60 and either metal e-beam evaporation or metal d.c. magnetron sputtering. Hitherto, epitaxial films of TiC, VC, NbC, MoC, W2C and WC have been deposited on MgO(100), MgO(111) and in some cases 6H- and 4H-SiC(0001). Epitaxial TiC films with a good quality have been deposited at temperatures as low as 100°C with metal sputtering, while somewhat higher temperatures (>200°C) are required for the other metals. In general, the plasma-assisted process allows lower deposition temperatures than the co-evaporation process. Most carbides can be deposited in a wide range of compositions within their homogeneity ranges by a fine-tuning of the Me/C60 flux. However, the results suggest that the formation of free surface carbon can be a limiting factor. The processes have also been used to deposit superlattices of TiC/NbC and TiC/VC at 400–500°C as well as epitaxial ternary TixV1−xCy films. Furthermore, epitaxial films of ternary carbides with well-controlled metal concentration profiles can be deposited at temperatures below 500°C.