(2) 𝐻 + 𝐶 6 𝐻 5 𝐶𝐻 3 → 𝐶 6 𝐻 6 + 𝐶𝐻 3 CH4 does not directly contribute towards the SiC growth , but only via the decomposition into CH3. The active carbon species for the adsorption studies are thus considered to be C6H6 and CH3 species. ) and (110), is 6.8 J/m 2 , 4.2 J/m 2 and 3.4 J/m 2 , respectively . This implies that in the conventional 3C-SiC CVD most of the coatings would grow preferentially along <110> direction. When we use CH4 at 1100 -1400 °C we observe a random or <110>-preferred growth direction. By using C7H8 as carbon precursor instead, it was possible to deposit highly <111>-oriented 3C-SiC coatings at T ≤ 1250 ℃. This change of preferred growth orientation with aromatic hydrocarbons was previously observed for the CVD growth of TiC hard coatings. For TiC, this was suggested to be due to the stronger adsorption of C6H6 on the (111) surface compared to the (100) surface, overcoming the lower surface energy of the (100) surface. Based on the reported CVD chemistry for toluene , the active carbon-containing growth species in the C7H8 process are assumed to be C6H6 and CH3, whereas in the CH4 process CH3 is supposed to be the active species. As described above, the computational results showed that CH3 was chemisorbed on both 3C-SiC (111) and (110) planes, and C6H6 was chemisorbed on the (111) plane but physiosorbed on the (110) plane. The slight difference in the adsorption energies of CH3 on both (111) and (110) explains the almost randomly oriented SiC growth in the CH4 process.