Effect of 3C-SiC(100) initial surface stoichiometry on bias enhanced diamond nucleation

Two 3C-SiC(100) reconstructed surfaces have been exposed to bias enhanced nucleation (BEN) treatments performed in a microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition reactor. For both BEN steps, a significant enhancement of the diamond nucleation density has been observed on the initial C-terminated surface compared to the Si-rich surface. Samples have been characterized by in situ surface analysis, namely, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and x-ray Auger electron spectroscopy, and by field emission gun scanning electron microscopy.