+\ac{HREM} studies \cite{werner96,werner97,eichhorn99,lindner99_2,koegler03} suggest the formation of C-Si dimers (dumbbells) on regular Si lattice sites, which agglomerate into large clusters indicated by dark contrasts and otherwise undisturbed Si lattice fringes in HREM, as can be seen in Fig.~\ref{fig:hrem:c-si}.
+
+A topotactic transformation into a 3C-SiC precipitate occurs once a critical radius of 2 nm to 4 nm is reached, which is manifested by the disappearance of the dark contrasts in favor of Moir\'e patterns (Fig.~\ref{fig:hrem:sic}) due to the lattice mismatch of \unit[20]{\%} of the 3C-SiC precipitate and c-Si.
+
+The insignificantly lower Si density of SiC ($\approx \unit[4]{\%}$) compared to c-Si results in the emission of only a few excess Si atoms.
+
+In contrast, investigations of strained Si$_{1-y}$C$_y$/Si heterostructures formed by MBE\cite{strane94,guedj98}, which incidentally involve the formation of SiC nanocrystallites, suggest an initial coherent precipitation by agglomeration of substitutional instead of interstitial C.
+
+Coherency is lost once the increasing strain energy of the stretched SiC structure surpasses the interfacial energy of the incoherent 3C-SiC precipitate and the Si substrate.
+
+These two different mechanisms of precipitation might be attributed to the respective method of fabrication.
+
+While in CVD and MBE surface effects need to be taken into account, SiC formation during IBS takes place in the bulk of the Si crystal.
+
+However, in another IBS study Nejim et~al.\cite{nejim95} propose a topotactic transformation that is likewise based on the formation of substitutional C.
+
+The formation of substitutional C, however, is accompanied by Si self-interstitial atoms that previously occupied the lattice sites and a concurrent reduction of volume due to the lower lattice constant of SiC compared to Si.
+
+Both processes are believed to compensate one another.
+
+
+cites:
+
+ibs, c-si agglom: werner96,werner97,eichhorn99,lindner99_2,koegler03
+ibs, c sub: nejim95
+ibs, indicated c sub: martin90 + conclusions reeson8x, eichhorn02
+hetero, coherent sic by sub c: strane94,guedj98
+
+more: taylor93, kitabatake contraction along 110, koegler03