Formation and characterisation of a thin surface layer of silicon carbide on a silicon substrate, created by ion-beam synthesis, are discussed. Low-energy (30 keV) carbon ions were implanted into a (1 0 0) silicon substrate in a single step to a dose of 10(18) cm(-2). Due to a combination of surface sputtering, a dynamically changing target density and diffusion during annealing, a fairly uniform and approximately stoichiometric mixture of silicon and carbon can be obtained. Subsequent high-temperature thermal annealing produced a crystalline SiC layer of 50-80 nm thick on the substrate surface. Optical techniques (infra-red reflectance, Raman spectroscopy and ellipsometry) and Auger spectroscopy were used to characterise the SiC film. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.