Compositional and structural properties of amorphous SixC1−x : H alloys prepared by reactive sputtering

Abstract

Amorphous SixC1−x : H alloys are prepared by simultaneous rf reactive sputtering of silicon and graphite in a H2-Ar gas mixture. Silicon, carbon, and hydrogen contents are measured for the entire range of x by electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis (ESCA), Rutherford-backscattering method, and thermal evolution of hydrogen. Evolution temperature dependence of the number of evolved hydrogen atoms is measured. The hydrogen-evolution behavior and the optical gap are x dependent. These phenomena are discussed in the light of chemical-bonding states.

An EELS and EXELFS study of amorphous hydrogenated silicon carbide

“…Different methods for the production of a-Si : C : H films have previously been employed. These include plasma assisted CVD [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15], sputtering techniques [15][16][17][18]19], ion implantation [20] and laser assisted deposition [-4, 21, 22]. Previous studies of silicon carbide have involved the use of several techniques, such as XPS [3, 6-8, 11, 12, 15-17, 21-23], AES [8,12,18,[20][21][22][23], electron diffraction [5,13], optical absorption [10], IR spectroscopy [3,4,12,15], Raman spectroscopy [11,12], scanning electron microscopy [12,21], X-ray diffraction [-3, 4, 21, 22], Rutherford backscattering [16], laser ionization mass analysis [21], EELS [9] and EXELFS [19].…”

The Local Atomic Arrangement in Amorphous Sixc1−x:H By Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy and Electron Diffraction

“…Different techniques have been employed to study the local atomic arrangement of a-SixCl-x, and it appears to be general agreement that a-SiCcl-^x form a tetrahedral network when the C-content is less than 40-50% [1,2,3,41, whereas there is evidence that the tetrahedral network breaks down when the C-content exceeds a certain limit 11,3,5].…”

Structure of Unhydrogenated Amorphous Silicon Carbide

“…These questions are furthermore complicated because there is evidence [4] that carbon coordination is affected by different preparation conditions. Specifically, it is believed that the sputtering method introduces more graphitically coordinated carbon atoms than the glow-discharge method.…”

“…a-SiC films are grown on a silicon substrate by various methods, such as plasma chemical vapor deposition (CVD) [2], glow discharge decomposition of silane and hydrocarbons [3], and reactive sputtering of silicon in an atmosphere of hydrocarbons [4]. The samples grown by these methods usually contain an appreciable amount of hydrogen, ranging from 10 to 40 at%, which is found to depend on the carbon content.…”