Preparation of Si–C–H thin films embedded with high oriented (100) polycrystalline silicon

Si–C–H thin films were prepared by RF-plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (RF-PECVD) at the substrate temperature of 300 °C, in which SiH4 and CH4 were used as the resource gases and hydrogen as the carrying vehicle. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy (RS), infrared absorption spectroscopy (IR), and high-resistance meter were used to measure the microstructure and resistivity, respectively. The results indicate that the thin films deposited on (100) silicon substrate at the temperature of 300 °C are Si–C–H thin films, and the content of C atoms increases with increasing both CH4 gas source and deposition power. A multiphase microstructure of the Si–C–H thin films is obtained, which reveals that the high oriented (100) polycrystalline silicon embeds in the Si–C–H matrix, in which crystalline SiC phase tends to form. The oriented silicon crystalline phase increases with increasing deposition power below 150 W and keeps almost constant above 150 W. The resistivity of Si–C–H thin film, which decreases from 1010 to 105 (Ωcm) as silicon crystalline phase increases in the Si–C–H thin film, is much more accordant with the content of silicon crystalline phase embedded in Si–C–H.