Silicon carbide whiskers with superlattice structure: A precursor for a new type of nanoreactor

Silicon carbide whiskers exhibit growth predominantly in the [1 1 1] direction. The high level of impurities, stacking faults and nano-sized twins govern the formation of homojunctions and heterojunctions in crystals. The structure of the whiskers comprises a hybrid superlattice, i.e. contains elements of doped and composite superlattices. An individual SiC whisker can contain hundreds of quantum wells with anomalous chemical properties. This paper shows that it is possible to selectively etch quantum wells and to construct whiskers with quasi-regularly distributed slit-like nanopores (nanoreactors), which are bordered by polar planes {1 1 1}, {0 0 0 1} or a combination of them, and also to produce flat SiC nanocrystals bordered by polar planes. (C) 2008 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.