Sputter deposition of high resistivity boron carbide

Abstract

We have succeeded in the rf magnetron sputter deposition of high resistivity boron carbide (B 1− x C x ). This has been accomplished by the sputter depositing the boron carbide from a methane saturated boron carbide target. We show that the composition and optical band gap of the sputter deposited material are functions of the applied rf power. Furthermore, boron carbide/silicon heterojunction diodes fabricated via sputtering compare favorably with those fabricated from borane cage molecule sources using plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD).