Decreased stacking fault densities of 3C-SiC films have been demonstrated by the CVD method using a BP buffer layer on Si(0 0 1) substrates. The BP layer effects a lattice relaxation between the SiC and Si. Although the thermal decomposition temperatures of BP are lower than the SiC growth temperatures, the SiC epitaxial growth on a BP buffer layer was achieved at a temperature of 1150 degrees C through a carbonization process of a thin Si layer grown on a BP film. The BP surface morphologies were affected by the film thickness, and the SiC morphologies were also seriously affected by the BP surface morphologies. Extremely smooth SiC surfaces were obtained by using an optimized thickness of a BP layer. However, several domains still remained within the films, and they appeared to be anti-phase domains. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.