Plasma deposition of amorphous SiC:H,F alloys from SiF4-CH4-H2 mixtures under modulated conditions

Fluorinated and hydrogenated amorphous silicon-carbon alloys (a-SiC:H,F) are produced by glow discharge decomposition of SiF4-CH4-H2 mixture. Small amount of CH4 in SiF4-H2 mixture are enough to produce silicon carbon alloys having optical gap ranging between 1.8 and 2.6 eV. Materials, having 1.95 eV band gap and exhibiting optoelectronic properties typical of state of art a-SiC:H, are deposited under plasma modulation conditions.