Structural investigations of silicon carbide films formed by fullerene carbonization of silicon

Abstract

Abstract Silicon carbide films with a thickness of up to half a micron have been formed on silicon substrates by evaporating fullerene (C60) molecules onto the heated substrates (T≥800°C). Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) shows the 1:1 stoichiometry of Si:C in all cases. The phase composition and microstructure of the films have been investigated by X-ray pole figure measurements and by cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (XTEM). The pole figure measurements show that the silicon carbide mainly consists of hexagonal phases with the hexagonal unit cell declined at about 17° with respect to the surface. XTEM analysis confirms this observation, as columnar growth of hexagonal SiC platelets with the platelets being declined with respect to the surface is seen. With this carbonization technique, silicon carbide films can be deposited at comparably low temperatures onto several materials, if prior to carbonization a silicon film has been evaporated.