Heterocrystalline Structures: New Types of Superlattices?

For the first time we present results of ab initio calculations of the structural and electronic properties of heterocrystalline combinations of a cubic (3 $C$) and a hexagonal ( $\mathrm{pH}$, $p=2,4,6\mathrm{}$) polytype of SiC, the material exhibiting the most pronounced polytypism. We show that these combinations give rise to a new type of “heterostructures” consisting of chemically identical but structurally different materials. For $\left(3C{)}_{N_1}\right(\mathrm{pH}{)}_{N_2}$ superlattices we predict a similar behavior as found for type-II heterostructures.