Precipitation of β-SiC in Si_1-yC_y alloys

The infrared modes of annealed Si_1-yC_y alloys were studied experimentally and theoretically. The alloys were grown on Si(100) substrates by solid-source molecular beam epitaxy and were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. At annealing temperatures above 850 °C, the localized vibrational mode of substitutional C around 605 cm^-1 diminished in intensity while another mode due to incoherent silicon carbide precipitates appeared at 810 cm^-1. For lower processing temperatures, a peak around 725 cm^-1 has been tentatively attributed to a C-rich phase, which is a precursor to SiC precipitation. Theoretical calculations based on the anharmonic Keating model predict that small (1 nm) 3C–SiC coherent precipitates may actually produce a mode at 725 cm^-1. This mode occurs if the bonds gradually vary in length between the C-rich region and the host lattice. On the other hand, if the bonds are abruptly distorted at the edges of the precipitate, it becomes elastically isolated from the host lattice, and the 810 cm^-1 mode appears. This study yields a picture of the thermal stability of dilute SiC alloys, which is important for the high-temperature processing steps necessary for device applications. Moreover, the coherent precipitation may provide a controllable way to form self-assembled 3C–SiC quantum dots into silicon germanium carbon alloys. © 1998 American Institute of Physics.