Structural properties and optical modeling of thermally annealed silicon carbide thin films

Abstract

Non–hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide films were processed by electron beam-physical vapour deposition on c-Si (100) and glass substrates. The films were isochronally annealed at varying temperatures. FTIR and Raman spectroscopies as well as XRD studies were used for structural investigation. For the pristine sample, it is found that the film is Si rich in an amorphous SiC matrix and that the observed graphitization is exclusively described by a single broad D-band in Raman. During the annealing process, a start of rearrangement of the network is observed at low temperatures of annealing but the amorphous phase still dominates in the microstructure. Still at low temperatures, the graphitization band broadens and expands to the G-bands region while at higher temperatures, an improved stochiometric crystalline SiC phase is achieved and distinct graphitic D and G bands are resolved. The induced crystalline network through annealing is prone to oxidation both in Si-O, bridged oxygen Si-O-Si and/or to silicon oxycarbide SiCx -O groups. An optical model based on effective medium approximation (EMA) theory is proposed in order to extract the optical properties of the material. It is established, from the evolution of the bandgap, that the films become transparent over a wider region of the visible spectrum as the temperature of annealing is increased to high values.