+Among the different polytypes of SiC, the cubic phase shows a high electron mobility and the highest break down field as well as saturation drift velocity.
+In contrast to its hexagonal counterparts 3C-SiC exhibits isotropic mechanical and electronic properties.
+Additionally the smaller band gap is expected to be favorable concerning the interface state density in MOSFET devices fabricated on 3C-SiC.
+Thus the cubic phase is most effective for highly efficient high-performance electronic devices.
+\begin{figure}[ht]
+\begin{center}
+\includegraphics[width=7cm]{sic_unit_cell.eps}
+\end{center}
+\caption{3C-SiC unit cell. Yellow and grey spheres correpsond to Si and C atoms respectively. Covalent bonds are illustrated by blue lines.}
+\label{fig:sic:unit_cell}
+\end{figure}
+The 3C-SiC unit cell is shown in Fig.~\ref{fig:sic:unit_cell}.
+3C-SiC grows in zincblende structure, i.e. it is composed of two fcc lattices, which are displaced by one quarter of the volume diagonal as in Si.
+However, in 3C-SiC, one of the fcc lattices is occupied by Si atoms while the other one is occupied by C atoms.
+Its lattice constant of \unit[0.436]{nm} compared to \unit[0.543]{nm} from that of Si results in a lattice mismatch of almost \unit[20]{\%}, i.e. four lattice constants of Si match five SiC lattice constants.
+Thus, the Si density of SiC is only slightly lower, i.e. \unit[97]{\%}, than that of Si.