SiC nanofibers grown by high power microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition

Silicon carbide (SiC) nanofibers have been synthesized on Si substrates covered by Ni thin films using high power microwave chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Characterization using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) combined with electron energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) revealed that the resultant fibrous nanostructures were assigned to β-SiC with high crystallinity. The formation of SiC nanofibers can be explained by the vapor liquid solid (VLS) mechanism in which precipitation of SiC occurs from the supersaturated Ni nanoparticle containing Si and C.