HREM STUDY OF 3C-SIC NANOPARTICLES - INFLUENCE OF GROWTH-CONDITIONS ON CRYSTALLINE QUALITY

In this contribution, we report on the influence of the growth conditi ons on the final crystalline quality of 3C-SiC nanoparticles with dime nsions around 3-10 nm. The nanoparticles are grown by chemical vapour synthesis in a hot wall reactor using tetramethylsilane [(CH3)(4)Si] a s precursor. By altering the decomposition temperature and reactor pre ssure, the clusters may be amorphous at low temperatures or crystallin e at elevated temperatures. Crystalline nanoparticles show a one-dimen sional stacking disorder with slip planes lying on different families of {1 1 1} planes when prepared at high reactor pressure. By lowering the pressure, only one-dimensional disordered particles along single ( 1 1 1) planes are observed. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.