Kinetic Monte Carlo simulation of SiC nucleation on Si(111)

Solid source molecular beam epitaxy was applied to create silicon carbide nanoclusters on silicon. The island size distribution can be controlled by appropriate substrate temperature, carbon fluxes and process times. Nevertheless, up to now the earliest stages of the carbon interaction with silicon are not well understood. To have a deeper insight into the early nucleation stages and to investigate the growth laws in such systems the kinetic Monte Carlo computer simulation method was applied. The simulation enabled us to estimate the values of the growth parameters and to obtain the cluster size distribution function and nanocluster concentration in agreement with the experimental obtained data. (C) 2004 WILEYNCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.