Microcrystalline structure and light-emitting properties of 3$C$–SiC island films grown on the Si(100) surface

The crystal structure features and light-emitting properties of 3$C$–SiC island films grown at decreased temperatures on the Si(100) surface by vacuum chemical epitaxy with the use of hydrogen-containing compounds are studied. The nucleation character and growth mechanisms of the nanocrystalline texture of microislands and the effect of elastic stresses accumulated on the surface of a growing carbide film on the shape of nucleating islands are traced by the methods of microscopy. The cathodoluminescence spectra from the surface carbidized Si layer and different areas of an individual 3$C$–SiC island are compared. The possible mechanisms of the appearance of additional spectral lines shifted with respect to the major peak towards the red and ultraviolet spectral regions in the observed spectra of epitaxial structures are discussed. These emission bands were earlier revealed only in the luminescence spectra of SiC nanocrystallites embedded into different (most often SiO$_2$) matrices. The comparative analysis of the behavior of lines in the observed luminescent spectra has not revealed any appreciable size effect of formed surface nanocrystallites on their positions, but demonstrated their evident dependence on the oxygen content at the 3$C$–SiC layer/silicon substrate interface.