Room temperature epitaxial growth of TiN on SiC

Epitaxial growth of a titanium nitride (TiN) on (6H)-SiC (0001) is achieved at room temperature by means of direct current magnetron sputtering. The epitaxial relationship is established by X-ray pole figure and Φ-scan. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy and pole figure analysis show that the orientation relationship is ( 111 ) TiN ‖ ( 0001 ) SiC [ 0 1 ¯ 1 ] TiN ‖ [ 1 2 ¯ 10 ] SiC , It is different from that on sapphire, “ ( 111 ) TiN ‖ ( 0001 ) Al 2 O 3 [ 10 1 ¯ ] TiN ‖ [ 10 1 ¯ 0 ] Al 2 O 3 ” , in spite of the same crystal structure of substrate surfaces. Different lattice mismatch is a plausible explanation.