Effect of hydrocarbon gas on the properties of magnetron sputtering of amorphous SiC:H

Abstract

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbon alloy films have been prepared by magntron sputtering of silicon in hydrocarbon-argon gas mixtures. Dependence of the film properties on the ratio, p, of the partial pressure of hydrocarbon gas to the total gas pressure has been investigated, from a viewpoint of the effect of the type of hydrocarbon gas: ethane and methane. With increasing p, the concentration of carbon and the number of carbon-related bonds increase, accompanying an increase in the optical bandgap and the activation energy of dark conductivity. The increasing rate of these quantities against p is smaller for ethane than for methane. The photoconductivity in the case of ethane holds a high value in a wide range of p, compared with the case of methane. This high value is ascribed to the simple configurations of carbon-related bonds deduced from the results of IR absorption.