Low temperature deposition of nanocrystalline silicon carbide thin films

Silicon carbide thin films have been deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering in a pure hydrogen plasma at substrate temperatures, Ts, ranging between 100 and 600 °C. The infrared (IR) absorption spectra and the transmission electron microscopy observations reveal an onset of crystallization at Ts as low as 300 °C. The crystalline fraction increases with Ts and reaches a value of about 60% for Ts=600 °C. Both refractive index n and room temperature dark conductivity σd(RT) show quite consistent behaviors with the structural evolution of the layers. Thus n increases from 1.9 to 2.4 and σd(RT) improves by six orders of magnitude when Ts is raised from 100 to 600 °C.