SiC(111) growth by C60 decomposition on Si(111) studied by electron spectroscopies

We have grown an ordered SiC(111) film, characterized by a (1 x 1) low energy electron diffraction (LEED) pattern, by evaporating C-60 molecules on a Si(111) substrate kept at 1200 K in ultrahigh vacuum conditions. In situ inverse photoemission spectra show the presence of a state at the conduction band minimum attributed to C-Si bond, whose intensity has been found to be related to the morphology of the grown film. We studied ex situ LEED, Si 2p and valence band photoemission spectra of the same SiC(111) sample as introduced in the vacuum chamber and after a sputtering/annealing treatment. After the cleaning procedure LEED shows clearly the recovering of the (1 x 1) pattern and the valence band spectra show the expected line shape for the SiC(111)-(1 x 1) sample. Evolution of the electronic configuration of the samples after Si evaporation will be discussed. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.