Growing device‐quality 3C‐SiC monocrystalline material is still an issue despite two decades of work dedicated to the subject. Using silicon as the substrate generates too many defects in the layers, owing to lattice mismatch, while it is very difficult to control the initial nucleation on an α‐SiC substrate so that 60° rotated domains are randomly formed. Herein, the elaboration of mono‐orientated 3C‐SiC layers on a 6H‐SiC(0001) on‐axis, Si face substrate using a vapor–liquid–solid mechanism is reported. This non‐conventional approach for growing monocrystalline layers involves feeding a Ge–Si melt by a propane flux at a temperature ranging from 1250 to 1550 °C. We show that, by using this technique, the 3C‐SiC material is almost always obtained on an hexagonal substrate, even if the crystal seed is oriented 8° off‐axis. Using on‐axis 6H‐SiC seeds and optimal growth conditions results in the reproducible deposition of single‐domain 3C‐SiC layers. A mechanism is proposed to clarify some aspects of this process.

We report on the heteroepitaxial growth of 3C-SiC layers by a vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) mechanism on various R-SiC substrates, namely, on-and off-axis for both 4H-and 6H-SiC(0001), Si and C faces. The Si-Ge melts, in which the Si content was varied from 10 to 50 atom%, were fed by 3 sccm of propane. The growth temperature was varied from 1200 to 1600 °C. It was found that single domain 3C-SiC layers can be obtained on 6H-SiC off-and on-axis and 4H-SiC on-axis, while the other types of substrates gave twinned 3C-SiC materials. As a general rule, one has to increase temperature when decreasing the Si content of the melt to avoid twin formation. It was also found that twinned 3C-SiC layers form at low temperatures, while homoepitaxy is achieved at high temperatures. Some growth mechanisms are proposed to explain the possibility of achieving either homoepitaxial or 3C-SiC layers (twinned or twin free) by changing the growth conditions. Concerning the selection of one orientation of the 3C layer for twin elimination, correlation with the carbon solubility in the melt and surface characteristics of the R-SiC seed are discussed.