The Deposition of 3C-SiC Thin Films onto the (111) and (110) Faces of Si using Pulsed Sputtering of a Hollow Cathode

Like other SiC polytypes, 3C-SiC is considered a suitable candidate for high-power, high-frequency devices due to its wide bandgap, high breakdown field, and high electron mobility [1, 2]. However, unlike other polytypes, high quality 3C-SiC can be grown on abundantly plentiful, inexpensive Si substrates at lower temperatures than other polytypes [3]. Further advancements and lowered costs of 3C-SiC growth will make it commercially attractive and lead to new scientific uses like epitaxial graphene synthesis [4]. Although 3C-SiC has been grown onto the (100) face of Si [5] and (111) face of Si [6], Nishiguichi et al. calculate a higher density of aligned Si atoms to Si-C pairs when growing (111) 3C-SiC onto (110) Si, thus suggesting a way to suppress the strain and stacking fault problems associated with the 20% lattice mismatch [7]. Thus, the majority of SiC growth documented here has been onto the (110) Si face with direct comparisons to (111) Si.