Determination of the optical bandgap and disorder energies of thin amorphous SiC and AlN films produced by radio frequency magnetron sputtering

Abstract

Amorphous aluminum nitrite and silicon carbide (a-AlN and a-SiC) thin films were prepared by radio frequency magnetron sputtering. Due to the deposition method and production conditions the deposited films grown in amorphous state. We systematically measure the optical bandgap through optical transmission spectroscopy and its change with a cumulative thermal annealing. The results show a linear relation between the Tauc-gap and the Tauc-slope for both AlN and SiC films, which can be explained analytically from the existence of an Urbach focus, and therefore can be used to determine the Urbach focus or to ensure the correct usage of the bandgap determination methods.