Surface morphology of α-SIC coatings deposited by RF magnetron sputtering

SiC coatings were deposited by RF magnetron sputtering from a sintered SiC target onto Si (100) substrate at low temperature. The effects of RF power (50–200 W), argon pressure (0.6–4.7 Pa) and deposition time on the surface morphology and the RMS surface roughness of the SiC coatings were studied by using FESEM and atomic force microscopy (AFM). SiC coatings with two growing models and corresponding surface morphologies were obtained. The bombardment induced by self-bias, together with RF power and argon pressure, was considered to be the reason for the difference in growing model and surface morphology.