Preparation of Si1-yCy/Si(001) and Si/Si1-xGex/Si1-yCy/Si(001) heterostructures using molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) with C obtained from sublimation of SiC in a high-temperature cell is reported. Accumulation of surface roughness is found to occur during growth of C-rich layers eventually leading to a reduction of the C-induced strain. The roughness can be suppressed at increased growth rates and/or decreased substrate temperature during growth of Si1-yCy layers. Modulation of the growth temperature has been found advantageous for optimizing both the morphology and photoluminescence properties. Near band-edge luminescence from Si1-yCy/Si multiple quantum well (MQW) structures has been observed and a conduction band edge shift equal to 63 meV/% C has been deduced from an effective mass calculation.