Title: Deposition temperature effects on optical and structural properties of amorphous silicon carbide films

Authors: Saloua Merazga; Amer Brighet; Aissa Keffous; Kamel Mirouh; Lakhder Guerbous; Youcef Belkacem; Mohamed Kechouane

Addresses: Laboratory of Thin Films and Interfaces, Mentouri University, Constantine, Algeria; Silicon Technology Development Unit, 02 Bd, Frantz FANON, B.P. 140, Algiers, Algeria ' Laboratoire de Physique des Matériaux, Faculté de Physique, USTHB, BP 32, El-Allia, Bab-Ezzouar, Alger, Algeria ' Silicon Technology Development Unit, 02 Bd, Frantz FANON, B.P. 140, Algiers, Algeria ' Laboratory of Thin Films and Interfaces, Department of Physics, Mentouri University, Constantine, Algeria ' Nuclear Research Centre, 02 Bd, Frantz FANON, B.P. 140, Algiers, Algeria ' Silicon Technology Development Unit, 02 Bd, Frantz FANON, B.P. 140, Algiers, Algeria ' Laboratoire de Physique des Matériaux, Faculté de Physique, USTHB, BP 32, El-Allia, Bab-Ezzouar, Alger, Algeria

Abstract: Hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide thin films (a-SiC:H) were elaborated by DC magnetron sputtering technique by using 6H-SiC as target. The a-SiC:H films of 0.9-1.5 µm thicknesses were deposited at different temperatures of 250, 350, 450 and 550°C on p-type Si(100) and Corning glass 9075 substrates. The deposited films (a-SiC:H) were investigated by Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), spectrophotometry (UV-visible-NIR), Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS), and photoluminesence spectroscopy. The previous results of the FTIR measurements reveal the existence of a band located at 775 cm−1, which corresponds to Si-C stretching vibration of SiC amorphous, whereas the Si-C bonds of SiC crystalline is around 810 cm−1. The optical gap varies between 1.9 and 2.10 eV as a function of films' thicknesses and temperature. In addition, the PL spectra of the elaborated films show that the intensity increases when the deposition temperature increases.

Keywords: silicon carbide; amorphous films; thin films; DC sputtering; Raman spectroscopy; photoluminescence; optical properties; structural properties; nanotechnology; deposition temperature.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNT.2013.053527

International Journal of Nanotechnology, 2013 Vol.10 No.5/6/7, pp.587 - 596

Published online: 27 Apr 2013 *

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