Remote hydrogen plasma chemical vapor deposition of silicon–carbon thin‐film materials from a hexamethyldisilane source: Characterization of the process and the deposits

Abstract

AbstractAmorphous, hydrogenated silicon–carbon (a‐Si:C:H) films were produced by remote hydrogen plasma chemical vapor deposition (RHP‐CVD) with hexamethyldisilane (HMDS) as the starting compound. Microwave hydrogen plasma was the source of the atomic hydrogen active species. The susceptibility of particular bonds in the HMDS molecule toward the initiation step was established with tetramethylsilane as a model compound. The reaction mechanisms proposed for the RHP‐CVD process revealed the important role of polymerization in film growth. The temperature dependence of the film growth rate implied that the investigated RHP‐CVD was a nonthermally activated process. The a‐Si:C:H films produced at different deposition temperatures were characterized in terms of their chemical structure, surface and bulk composition, surface morphology, surface free energy, density, corrosion resistance, mechanical properties (adhesion and hardness), and optical properties (refractive index and optical band gap). The deposition temperature appeared to be a key parameter, precisely controlling the structure and properties of the resulting films. Based on the results of these studies, reasonable structure–property relationships were found. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 86: 1445–1458, 2002