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, T-s, ranging between 100 and 600 degrees C. The infrared (IR) absorption spectra and the transmission electron microscopy observations reveal an onset of crystallization at T-s as low as 300 degrees C. The crystalline fraction increases with T-s and reaches a value of about 60% for T-s=600 degrees C. Both refractive index n and room temperature dark conductivity sigma(d)(RT) show quite consistent behaviors with the structural evolution of the layers. Thus n increases from 1.9 to 2.4 and sigma(d)(RT) improves by six orders of magnitude when T-s is raised from 100 to 600 degrees C. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(00)04717-3].