Thin films of SiC have been deposited using a hollow cathode sputtering technique. Several methods have been used including DC, RF, and pulsed sputtering. The films reported here have been deposited using DC and pulsed sputtering.
Thin films of SiC were deposited using DC, RF and pulsed sputtering of a hollow cathode. The majority of the films were deposited using RF sputtering at temperatures ranging from 610 to 858 o C. Initial films were deposited onto Si substrates in order to determine deposition rates, film uniformity, and film composition. The introduction of a rotating substrate holder greatly improved the film thickness and composition uniformity. The samples were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, optical absorption, and infrared ellipsometry. The initial films were polycrystalline in nature independent of the substrate used for deposition. The 4H/3C polytype ratio increases strongly for elevated substrate temperatures for the films which were grown homo-epitaxially on 4H SiC. This observation suggests a new avenue for homo-epitaxial growth of SiC onto 4H SiC and rapid hollow cathode sputtering is envisioned for the growth of single crystal films of 4H SiC for future device applications.
Thin SiC buffer layers have been grown by sputtering a graphite C target onto both (111) and (110) Si substrates. Converting the graphitic C into SiC is highly temperature dependent and relies on free silicon atoms that sublime from voids in the substrate at higher temperatures. Morphological and structural investigations were performed by Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD).
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