Self-Assembled Nanotiles of Heteroepitaxial SiC on Si

Using an organometallic ion-beam deposition technique, self-assembled silicon carbide (SiC) nanotiles were fabricated on Si wafers. Nanosized semiconducting tiles are important in electronics and photonics technologies and will be applicable for single-electron and microlight-emitting devices. The SiC is a wide bandgap semiconductor used for UV light emitters and power devices. While many fabrication trials have been performed for silicon and germanium nanodots, to the authors' knowledge, no prior reports of a heteroepitaxial growth of SiC nanodots or nanotiles have been made.