A thin layer of Au, which had been grown epitaxially in a 3C-SiC/Si interface, was observed by using conventional and high-resolution electron microscopy. The interlayer was formed during extended heat-treatment (500C, 500h) of a 3C-SiC/Si system in which Au was deposited onto the surface of the SiC. Misfit dislocations were observed, in both SiC/Au and Au/Si interfaces, which had Burgers vectors of ½<¯110> parallel to the interfaces. Such epitaxy was possible in spite of the very high misfit of the Au/Si interface. The net of misfit dislocations was visible only via cross-sectional high-resolution electron microscopy. The positions of the extra half-planes of the interfacial dislocations were identified. The mechanism of Au mass transport through the unaffected SiC film was suggested to be pipe diffusion through the partial dislocations which bounded the stacking faults and inversion domain boundaries that pre-existed in 3C-SiC. The same diffusion mechanism permitted the transport of Si, from the 3C-SiC/Si interface, to the upper surface of SiC on which islands of Si and Au formed.

Gold Films Epitaxially Grown by Diffusion at the 3C-SiC/Si Interface. P.Komninou, J.Stoemenos, G.Nouet, T.Karakostas: Journal of Crystal Growth, 1999, 203[1-2], 103-12