Growth of Si/3C–SiC/Si(100) heterostructures by pulsed supersonic free jets

We have investigated the epitaxial growth of multilayer structures of Si/3C–SiC/Si(100) by pulsed supersonic free jets of methylsilane (CH₃SiH₃) for SiC growth and trisilane (Si₃H₈) for Si growth. Epitaxial Si layers were obtained only on very thin (≈3 nm) 3C–SiC epitaxial layers, while polycrystalline Si was grown on thicker 3C–SiC layers. It was also found that the transition regions with a thickness of ≈1 nm existed at the interface between epitaxial 3C–SiC and Si layers by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy observation. These results suggest that the surface roughness and thickness of the 3C–SiC layer play an important role for epitaxial growth of Si. © 1999 American Institute of Physics.