Critical island size of the SiC formation on Si(1 0 0) and Si(1 1 1)

The nucleation of SiC during the interaction of elemental C with Si surfaces was investigated by atomic force microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The C flux and processing temperatures were adjusted in the range of 1013–1015 atoms cm−2 s−1 and 600–800 °C, respectively. The experimental results of atomic force microscopy and transmission electron microscopy investigations suggest that the SiC nucleation can be described in the framework of classical nucleation theories yielding a critical nucleus size of one atom and six atoms on Si(1 0 0) and Si(1 1 1), respectively.