Abstract

Amorphous, hydrogenated, silicon carbide (a‐SiC:H) films are deposited in the remote hydrogen microwave plasma (RP‐CVD) process using diethylsilane as a single‐source precursor. The effect of substrate temperature (TS) on the kinetics of RP‐CVD, chemical composition, structure, surface morphology, and properties (density, refractive index, and extinction coefficient) of the resulting a‐SiC:H films is investigated. The TS dependence of film growth rate implies that RP‐CVD is an adsorption‐controlled process. The increase of TS from 30 °C to 350 °C causes the elimination of organic moieties from the film and the formation of a SiC network structure. The relationships between the content of SiC bonds, represented by the relative integrated intensity of the SiC IR band, and the film properties are determined. The number of SiC bonds is found to be a key parameter in the control of the examined film properties. The films deposited at TS = 350 °C appear to be very dense materials exhibiting small surface roughness and high refractive index. The results of the present study are compared with those reported for a‐SiC:H films produced by RP‐CVD from a triethylsilane precursor.

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