Compositional, structural and optical properties of Si-rich a-SiC:H thin films deposited by ArF-LCVD

Silicon-rich amorphous hydrogenated silicon carbon (a-SiC:H) films with C content up to 23% have been grown on Si and Corning glass substrates using ArF laser induced chemical vapor deposition (ArF-LCVD). This technique allows tailoring film composition by controlling deposition parameters such as precursor gas mixture (disilane and ethylene diluted in helium) and substrate temperature (180–400 8C). The influence of both parameters on composition and bonding were studied by Fourier transform infrarred (FTIR) and X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The optical gap of these semiconductors deposited at 250 8C varied from 1.6 to 2.4 eV and was determined by UV–vis spectroscopy. An additional analysis by profilometry and atomic force microscopy (AFM) have been done for determining the deposition rate and the roughness (rms < 6 nm) of the films as well as their surface morphology