Growth of cubic SiC thin films on Si(001) by high vacuum chemical vapor deposition using 1,3-disilabutane and an investigation of the effect of deposition pressure

We have deposited cubic SiC thin films on Si(001) substrates by high vacuum chemical vapor deposition (CVD) using a single molecular precursor of 1,3-disilabutane (DSB) at various temperatures (600-1000degreesC) and pressures in the range of 1 X 10(-6)-1 X 10(-5) Torr. A single-crystalline cubic SiC thin film with stoichiometric composition can be obtained under deposition conditions of 900-1000 degreesC and 4.0- 6.5 X 10(-)6 Torr. However, on increasing the deposition pressure and decreasing the growth temperature to 1 X 10(-5) Torr and 600degreesC, respectively, the film became polycrystalline. The effect of deposition pressure on the film growth rate and crystallinity was also studied. Based on the experimental results from x-ray diffraction, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy, and transmission electron diffraction, the best SiC film was grown at 900degreesC and 6.5 X 10(-6) Torr of DSB at a maximum growth rate of 0.1 mum/h. The thicknesses of as-grown films were determined by cross-sectional SEM and Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy. Two different activation energies for cubic SiC film formation were obtained from Arrhenius plots. The deposition temperatures and pressures used in this study are lower by as much as 200 degreesC and a factor of 10(2), respectively, compared with those grown by conventional CVD methods. (C) 2003 American Vacuum Society.