+The main difficulties in SiC heteroepitaxy on Si is due to the lattice mismatch of Si and SiC and the difference in the thermal expansion coefficient of \unit[8]{\%}.
+Thus, in most of the applied CVD and MBE processes, the SiC layer formation process is split into two steps, the surface carbonization and the growth step, as proposed by Nishino~et~al. \cite{nishino83}.
+Cleaning of the substrate surface with HCl is required prior to carbonization.
+During carbonization the Si surface is chemically converted into a SiC film with a thickness of a few nm by exposing it to a flux of C atoms and concurrent heating up to temperatures about \unit[1400]{$^{\circ}$C}.
+In a next step, the epitaxial deposition of SiC is realized by an additional supply of Si atoms at similar temperatures.
+Low defect densities in the buffer layer are a prerequisite for obtaining good quality SiC layers during growth, although defect densities decrease with increasing distance of the SiC/Si interface \cite{shibahara86}.
+Next to surface morphology defects such as pits and islands, the main defects in 3C-SiC heteroepitaxial layers are twins, stacking faults (SF) and antiphase boundaries (APB) \cite{shibahara86,pirouz87}.
+APB defects, which constitute the primary residual defects in thick layers, are formed near surface terraces that differ in a single-atom-height step resulting in domains of SiC separated by a boundary, which consists of either Si-Si or C-C bonds due to missing or disturbed sublattice information \cite{desjardins96,kitabatake97}.
+However, the number of such defects can be reduced by off-axis growth on a Si \hkl(0 0 1) substrate miscut towards \hkl[1 1 0] by \unit[2]{$^{\circ}$}-\unit[4]{$^{\circ}$} \cite{shibahara86,powell87_2}.