Thermal dissociation process of hydrogen atoms in plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposited silicon nitride films J. Appl. Phys. 84, 5243 (1998); 10.1063/1.368813Infrared and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy studies of as-prepared and furnace-annealed radio-frequency sputtered amorphous silicon carbide films
We present results of an oxidation study of a-Si 1-x C x :H films prepared by the plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition of silane and acetylene. The composition (i.e. x) of the samples was determined by the flow rates of silane and acetylene. Oxidation was carried out at 400 to 850°C in dry oxygen ambient. The infrared (IR) spectra of the as-prepared films showed the intensity of the Si-C peak decreases and the Si-CH 3 peak increases as x increases. The Si-H peak shifts to higher frequency as x increases. Note that the incorporation of CH 3 radicals in a-Si 1-x C x :H films has shown to introduce voids and increased the porosity of the films. The IR spectra of the oxidized samples showed clear Si-O stretching and rocking/wagging modes for all films. We suggest that the growth of oxide on a-Si 1-x C x :H is a result of voids that facilitate the diffusion of oxidants into the film. We shown that the activation energy, obtained from the linear rate region of the oxide growth, was far less than the dissociation energies of the Si-Si, Si-C and Si-H bonds. We suggest that this could be due to the amorphous nature of the samples that caused the various chemical bonds to be weaker during oxidation.
The effect of the Si-C , Si-CH3 , C-Hn , Si-H and Si dangling bonds on the oxidation process was investigated by monitoring the changes of these bands as a function of oxidation temperature or duration using the infrared spectroscopy technique. We concluded that the activation energy obtained from the linear regime of the oxide growth is related to the C-Hn bonds. We suggested that most of the C-Hn bonds were bonded to Si with n = 3 , that gave rise to voids to facilitate the oxidation of amorphous silicon carbide films.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.