Deposition temperature effects on optical and structural properties of amorphous silicon carbide films

Abstract

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide thin films (a–SiC:H) were elaborated by DC magnetron sputtering technique by using 6H–SiC as target. The a–SiC:H films of 0.9–1.5 µm thicknesses were deposited at different temperatures of 250, 350, 450 and 550°C on p–type Si(100) and Corning glass 9075 substrates. The deposited films (a–SiC:H) were investigated by Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), spectrophotometry (UV–visible–NIR), Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS), and photoluminesence spectroscopy. The previous results of the FTIR measurements reveal the existence of a band located at 775 cm−1, which corresponds to Si–C stretching vibration of SiC amorphous, whereas the Si–C bonds of SiC crystalline is around 810 cm−1. The optical gap varies between 1.9 and 2.10 eV as a function of films' thicknesses and temperature. In addition, the PL spectra of the elaborated films show that the intensity increases when the deposition temperature increases.