Organosilicon ion beam for SiC heteroepitaxy

A low-energy deposition technique using a beam of organosilicon ions has been developed and successfully applied for heteroepitaxial growth of SiC on a Si substrate at temperatures of 900 1300 K. The process employs gaseous CH3SiH2CH3 in a Freeman-type-ion source to produce CH3Si+ fragment ions that are then mass-selected and deposited at 100 eV on a Si wafer. Ion energy was precisely controlled and energy fluctuation was +/-1 eV. RHEED analysis and AFM observation, respectively, showed that a thin film of SiC had been crystallized heteroepitaxially and in the form of 'nano-tiles.' The technique offers the potential for fabrication of self-assembled SiC nanostructures. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.