Size distribution of clusters and nucleation preference of trimers during SiC (0001) surface epitaxial growth under low coverage

In order to better understand the microscopic nucleation behavior during the epitaxial growth of a SiC crystal, a lattice kinetic Monte Carlo model is developed, in which Si and C particles are set as the basic elements. The events list is built up to implement group search and binary search, which can improve the efficiency of the algorithm. In addition, the Hoshen-Kopelman algorithm is also used to calculate the statistics of the properties of clusters. Then, the cluster size distribution function and the nucleation preference of trimers are analyzed. The results show that the cluster size distribution function obeys the Gauss distribution, and the proportion of crystal nuclei close to the average size gradually increases. Moreover, the growth temperature mainly affects the trapping rate of adatoms by dimers, and the C/Si ratio affects the formation of different types of dimers and the concentration of adatoms.

Automated summary

A lattice kinetic Monte Carlo model is developed to investigate the microscopic nucleation behavior during the epitaxial growth of a SiC crystal. Si and C particles are used as the basic elements, and events list, group search, and binary search are implemented to improve the algorithm's efficiency. The Hoshen-Kopelman algorithm is employed to calculate cluster size distribution and nucleation preference of trimers. Results show that the cluster size distribution follows a Gaussian distribution, and the proportion of crystal nuclei close to the average size increases gradually. The growth temperature affects the trapping rate of adatoms by dimers, while the C/Si ratio influences the formation of different types of dimers and the concentration of adatoms.