AVS 46th International Symposium
    Electronic Materials and Processing Division Thursday Sessions
       Session EM2-ThA

Invited Paper EM2-ThA1
Silicon Carbide: Material of the 21st Century?

Thursday, October 28, 1999, 2:00 pm, Room 611

Session: Silicon Carbide and Dielectrics on Si
Presenter: P.G. Soukiassian, Université de Paris-Sud/Orsay, France
Correspondent: Click to Email
Silicon carbide (SiC) is a refractory material belonging, with diamond and nitrides, to the wide band gap semiconductor class. SiC has a strong technological interest especially in high temperature, high speed, high voltage and high power semiconductor devices and sensors. Furthermore, rather inert chemically, its ability to resist to radiation damages makes SiC very suitable for hostile environments. In addition, SiC has very interesting mechanical properties and is one of the best biocompatible material. These exceptional properties are driving forces into the present fast growing interest in surfaces and interfaces of this advanced material. The surfaces and interfaces of cubic and hexagonal SiC are investigated by atom-resolved variable temperature scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy and photoemission spectroscopies using synchrotron radiation.@footnote 1-3@ Such important issues as the atomic scale self-propagated surface oxidation and SiO2/SiC initial interface formation will be addressed.@footnote 4,5@ In addition, the discovery of highly stable self-organized Si and C atomic lines having fascinating characteristics and their dynamics will also be described.@footnote 6,7@ The Si nanostructure number and spacing could be mediated by annealing time and temperature leading to ordering ranging from a single isolated Si atomic line to large superlattices of "massively parallel" atomic chains.@footnote 6@ One discovers also a sp to sp3 temperature-controlled diamond-like transformation which could potentially be usefull in diamond growth.@footnote 7@ All these characteristics are unprecedented and show a very novel and interesting aspect of SiC in its ability to also be a very suitable material in nanoscience. @FootnoteText@ @footnote 1@F. Semond, P. Soukiassian, A. Mayne, G. Dujardin, L.Douillard and C. Jaussaud, Phys. Rev. Lett. 77, 2013 (1996). @Footnote 2@P. Soukiassian, F. Semond, L. Douillard, A. Mayne, G. Dujardin, L. Pizzagalli and C. Joachim, Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 907 (1997). @Footnote 3@V.Yu. Aristov, L. Douillard, O. Fauchoux and P. Soukiassian, Phys. Rev. Lett. 79, 3700 (1997). @Footnote 4@A. Mayne, F. Semond, G. Dujardin and P. Soukiassian, Phys. Rev. B 57, Rap. Comm., R 15108 (1998). @Footnote 5@F. Semond, L. Douillard, P. Soukiassian, D. Dunham, F. Amy and S. Rivillon, Appl. Phys. Lett. 68, 2144 (1996). @Footnote 6@P. Soukiassian, F. Semond, A. Mayne and G. Dujardin, Phys. Rev. Lett. 79, 2498 (1997). @footnote 7@V. Derycke, P. Soukiassian, A. Mayne, G. Dujardin and J. Gautier, Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 5868 (1998).