New Approaches and Understandings in the Growth of Cubic Silicon Carbide.

In this review paper, several new approaches about the 3C-SiC growth are been presented. In fact, despite the long research activity on 3C-SiC, no devices with good electrical characteristics have been obtained due to the high defect density and high level of stress. To overcome these problems, two different approaches have been used in the last years.

Unveiling Planar Defects in Hexagonal Group IV Materials.

Recently synthesized hexagonal group IV materials are a promising platform to realize efficient light emission that is closely integrated with electronics. A high crystal quality is essential to assess the intrinsic electronic and optical properties of these materials unaffected by structural defects. Here, we identify a previously unknown partial planar defect in materials with a type basal stacking fault and investigate its structural and electronic properties.

Structure and Stability of Partial Dislocation Complexes in 3C-SiC by Molecular Dynamics Simulations.

In this work, the structure and stability of partial dislocation (PD) complexes terminating double and triple stacking faults in 3C-SiC are studied by molecular dynamics simulations. The stability of PD complexes is demonstrated to depend primarily on the mutual orientations of the Burgers vectors of constituent partial dislocations. The existence of stable complexes consisting of two and three partial dislocations is established.

Gibbs free energy and equilibrium states in the Si/Si oxide systems.

In this paper, the equilibrium states in the Si/Si oxide systems formed as a result of the phase separation of nonstoichiometric silicon oxide films are studied. The expressions for the Gibbs free energy of Si oxide and Si/Si oxide systems are derived thermodynamically. The transformations of the Gibbs free energy in the amorphous Si/Si oxide and the crystalline Si/Si oxide systems with the change in the amount of separated silicon and the composition of the silicon oxide phase are analyzed.

Study of the formation processes of gold droplet arrays on Si substrates by high temperature anneals.

In this study, the peculiarities of the transformations of gold films deposited on the Si wafer surfaces as a result of high temperature anneals are investigated experimentally depending on the conditions of wafer surface preparation and the annealing regimes. The morphology and the distribution functions of the crystallites of gold films as well as the gold droplets formed as a result of anneals are studied as functions of annealing temperature, type of annealing (rapid thermal or rapid furnace annealing), and the state of the surface of Si wafers. The results obtained can be used for the controlled preparation of the arrays of catalytic gold droplets for subsequent growth of Si wire-like crystals.