Formation of β-SiC nanowires by annealing SiC films in hydrogen atmosphere

The single crystalline β-SiC nanowires were grown through annealing polycrystalline SiC thin films in H2 at 1150 °C. The SiC thin films were deposited on Si (1 1 1) substrate by radio frequency magnetron sputtering at room temperature. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were employed to determine the structure, composition and surface morphology of the synthesized one-dimensional SiC nanostructures. SEM results show the diameters of SiC nanowires vary between 20 and 60 nm with length up to 50 μm. XRD and TEM confirm the grown SiC nanowires are single crystalline β-SiC.