Epitaxial growth of 3C-SiC on Si(111) from hexamethyldisilane

The morphology and microstructure of 3C-SiC thin films grown on Si(111) substrate by chemical vapor deposition at ambient pressure has been investigated. Hexamethyldisilane (HMDS) was used as the source gas and a 8% H-2 + Ar mixture as the carrier gas. SiC films were grown by one-step and two-step growth procedures. The thin films grown by these different processes were studied using optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. Optimizing the one-step growth process gave a highly oriented 3C-SiC film with a [111] texture. With the two-step growth process, columnar grains were found to grow on top of a continuous single crystal layer and, under optimum growth conditions, single crystal epitaxial films could be obtained. Effects of temperature and diffusion on the characteristics of the films grown by the one-step and two-step procedures are discussed.