However, in spite of the similarities with B12P2 and B12As2, which are typically grown epitaxially on the Si-terminated face , epitaxial growth of r-B4C was not achieved on 4H-SiC(0001). .With the exception of their orientation on either SiC termination, the r-B4C films show identical the crystal structures, composition at the same growth temperature (1300 °C) and temperature thresholds for graphite formation (1400 °C), which indicates that the observed differences can only be attributed to nucleation and not to the steady-state growth. To understand these observations, we consider the differences that are already known between the two terminations of silicon carbide and are relevant to the early stage of the deposition process, such as surface energy, and graphene formation or surface stability in H2.