Chemical vapour deposition of zirconium carbide and silicon carbide hybrid whiskers

Zirconium carbide and silicon carbide hybrid whiskers were codeposited by chemical vapour deposition using methyl trichlorosilane, zirconium chloride, methane and hydrogen as the precursors. The zirconium carbide and silicon carbide whiskers were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. The results indicate that the codeposition process is more effective in the presence of methane than in the absence of methane. The codeposition process and the growth of zirconium carbide in the whiskers can be accelerated at high temperature in the presence of methane. A growth model was proposed based on the deposition model of carbon, zirconium carbide and silicon carbide. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.