High-quality amorphous hydrogenated silicon carbide coatings by remote plasma chemical vapor deposition from a single-source precursor

Abstract

The amorphous hydrogenated silicon carbide (a-SiC:H) films were produced by the remote hydrogen plasma chemical vapor deposition (CVD) using tetrakis(trimethylsilyl)silane (TMSS) molecular cluster as a novel single-source precursor. The remote plasma CVD process has been examined in terms of mechanism of the activation step. The determined temperature dependence of the film deposition rate suggests that the examined remote hydrogen plasma CVD is a non-thermally activated process. The susceptibility of particular bonds in TMSS molecule to the activation step has been characterized using suitable model source compounds. The films have been characterized by ellipsometry, Auger electron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and reflection high energy electron diffraction analysis. There is reported the effect of substrate temperature (T s) on such properties of the film as the compositional uniformity, surface morphology, and refractive index. The films exhibit an excellent morphological homogeneity, outstanding compositional uniformity and stoichiometry near pure silicon carbide at T s = 300–400°C. The refractive index alters from 1.5 to 2.4 with rising T s in the range of 30–400°C.