Influence of Si-C bond density on the properties of a-Si(1-x)C(x) thin films

Shaik, Habibuddin and Raman, Thulasi KH and Rao, Mohan G (2012) Influence of Si-C bond density on the properties of a-Si(1-x)C(x) thin films. In: Applied Surface Science, 258 (7). pp. 2989-2996.

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Abstract

Amorphous silicon carbide (a-Si(1-x)C(x)) films were deposited on silicon (100) and quartz substrates by pulsed DC reactive magnetron sputtering of silicon in methane (CH(4))-Argon (Ar) atmosphere. The influence of substrate temperature and target power on the composition, carbon bonding configuration, band gap, refractive index and hardness of a-SiC films has been investigated. Increase in substrate temperature results in slightly decreasing the carbon concentration in the films but favors silicon-carbon (Si-C) bonding. Also lower target powers were favorable towards Si-C bonding. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) results agree with the Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), UV-vis spectroscopy results. Increase in substrate temperature resulted in increased hardness of the thin films from 13 to 17 GPa and the corresponding bandgap varied from 2.1 to 1.8 eV. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	Applied Surface Science
Publisher:	Elsevier Science B.V.
Additional Information:	Copyright of this article belongs to Elsevier Science B.V.
Keywords:	a-SiC;Si-C bonding;C-C bonding;Pulsed DC;XPS;Infrared spectroscopy;Hardness
Department/Centre:	Division of Physical & Mathematical Sciences > Instrumentation Appiled Physics
Date Deposited:	21 Feb 2012 07:14
Last Modified:	21 Feb 2012 07:14
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/43527

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