Heteroepitaxial growth of (111) 3C-SiC on (110) Si substrate by second order twins

Cubic (111)-oriented silicon carbide (3C-SiC) heteroepitaxy on (110) silicon substrate was performed by low pressure chemical vapor deposition. A comparison with the previous work by Nishiguchi [Appl. Phy. Lett. 84, 3082 (2004)] shows that the relationship (110) Si parallel to(111) 3C-SiC could be misleading. Based on x-ray diffraction pole figures and numerical simulations, we prove that this relationship is due to the formation of second order twins during the initial stages of growth. This analysis also reveals that the crystal starts to grow with a misalignment of 3.5 degrees along the < 002 > Si direction to adapt the mismatch of lattice parameters. (c) 2008 American Institute of Physics.