Direct insight into grains formation in Si layers grown on 3C-SiC by chemical vapor deposition

Abstract This work presents a structural study of silicon (Si) thin films grown on cubic silicon carbide (3C-SiC) by chemical vapor deposition. The presence of grains rotated by 90° around the growth direction in the Si layer is directly related to the presence of antiphase domains on the 3C-SiC surface. We were able to provide a direct evidence that the 90° rotation of Si grains around the growth direction occurs exactly on the termination of antiphase boundaries (APBs) in 3C-SiC layer. Increasing the 3C-SiC thickness reduces the APBs density on 3C-SiC surface leading to a clear improvement of the uppermost Si film crystal quality. Furthermore, we observed by high resolution plan-view TEM images the presence of hexagonal Si domains limited to few nm in size. These hexagonal Si domains are inclusions in small Si grains enclosed in larger ones rotated by 90°. Finally, we propose a model of grains formation in the Si layer taking into consideration the effect of the 3C-SiC thickness.