Study on SiC layers synthesized with carbon ion beam at low substrate temperature

Abstract

Abstract Carbon implantation into silicon, at beam energies from 30 to 60 keV and at ion doses of 3.0×1017 to 1.6×1018cm−2 with a metal vapor vacuum arc ion, was performed to form SiC layers at substrate temperatures below 400°C. It was found that the substrate temperature for the conversion of amorphous phase SiC (a-SiC) into cubic phase SiC (β-SiC) during the carbon implantation, is much lower than the conversion temperature (approx. 900°C) of a-SiC into β-SiC induced by the post-annealing. The feature of the low substrate temperature of the metal vapor vacuum arc (MEVVA) ion source is thought to be due to the ion-beam-induced crystallization (IBIC) effect. The profile of the carbon content, which is of Gaussian shape similar to the data of TRIM-90 calculation, is associated well with the distribution of the ratio of [relative amount of β-SiC/relative amount of a-SiC] in the SiC layers. Moreover, in the carbon rich region the higher degree of crystallization is attributed to the higher β-SiC fraction.