X-RAY PHOTOELECTRON DIFFRACTION OBSERVATION OF BETA-SIC(001) OBTAINED BY ELECTRON-CYCLOTRON-RESONANCE PLASMA-ASSISTED GROWTH ON SI(001)

Nanometric SiC overlayer synthesis has been performed via a microwave electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) H-2 Plasma activating CH4 molecules on Si(001) substrates whose temperatures (T(s)) expanded from room temperature to 850-degrees-C. The films were characterized in situ by angularly resolved photoemission techniques. In addition to the T(s) dependence of the growth kinetics obtained from conventional X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements, photoelectron diffraction (XPD) is used for the first time to show the appearance of textured growth of beta- or 3C-SiC(001) parallel-to Si(001) for T(s) above 800-degrees-C. To this end the structured polar scans of the C 1s and Si 2p carbide intensities are presented for the two (100) and (110BAR) high-symmetry planes and compared to the corresponding Si substrate signatures. These data are relevant to the first XPD investigation of a binary compound with well differentiated diffusers such as C and Si atoms and identical environments under test in spite of which differentiated C 1s and Si 2p patterns are obtained.