ABSTRACT

This chapter provides molecular dynamics simulations to study the atomic structure of the β-SiC/Si(OOl) and (Ill) interfaces. The wide lattice mismatch between the several materials introduces an array of misfit dislocations along the interface, responsible for releasing almost all the strain which would be present in a pseudomorphic structure. The chapter discusses the interface termination, its stoichiometry and the core dislocation structures. It presents the simulated High-resolution electron microscopy images for the most stable heterostructures, and the features connected to the peculiar interface reconstructions shown. Silicon carbide is one of the most promising semiconductors for high temperature, high power and high frequency applications, due to its unique electronic and structural properties, such as the high thermal stability, the wide band gap and the high breakdown field. The high-resolution electron microscopy simulated images were obtained applying the EMS multislice algorithm: supercells coming from misfit dislocation simulations have been sliced and each slice was translated to EMS supercell format.