same as subject.
If yes, can any experts provide with some basic instructions? or preferably someone already using child. Thanks
Well, Child theme is kind of WP terminology but SMF also follows something similar, you can start your own theme with index.template.php , css/index.css based upon default SMF Curve theme, you can add more templates in your theme if you need to modify them else your theme will use default smf template files. So on a large, SMF works on child-parent theme pattern.
You can also see : Creating Themes (http://wiki.simplemachines.org/smf/How_to_create_a_smf_theme)