A comparative study was made of C-terminated and Si-rich 3C-SiC(100) surfaces exposed to a H2/CH4 microwave plasma used in diamond growth. Each surface was characterized before and after short plasma exposures using low-energy electron diffraction, X-ray photo-electron spectroscopy and scanning tunnelling microscopy techniques. In both cases, a 5 minutes plasma exposure led to a 1 x 1 low-energy electron diffraction pattern associated with a slight oxygen contamination as evidenced by X-ray photo-electron spectroscopy. However, upon additional annealing, the two surfaces exhibited very different behaviours. For the Si-terminated 3 x 2 surface, a 1 x 1 → 2 x 1 transition occurring at 1173K was observed while the initial c(2 x 2) surface reconstruction was restored at 1323K for the C-terminated surface. Furthermore, the X-ray photo-electron spectroscopy measurements show a correlation between oxygen surface release and low-energy electron diffraction transitions. An atomic arrangement was observed by scanning tunnelling microscopy for the C-terminated surface

Behaviour of the 3C-SiC(100) c(2 x 2) (C-Terminated) and 3 x 2 (Si-Rich) Surface Reconstructions upon Initial H2/CH4 Microwave Plasma Exposures. M.Portail, S.Saada, S.Delclos, J.C.Arnault, P.Soukiassian, P.Bergonzo, T.Chassagne, A.Leycuras: Physica Status Solidi A, 2005, 202[11], 2234-9