The Influence of AlN Intermediate Layer on the Structural and Chemical Properties of SiC Thin Films Produced by High-Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering

• Published in: Micromachines (Basel) Vol. 10; no. 3; p. 202
• Main Authors: Galvão, Nierlly, Guerino, Marciel, Campos, Tiago, Grigorov, Korneli, Fraga, Mariana, Rodrigues, Bruno, Pessoa, Rodrigo, Camus, Julien, Djouadi, Mohammed, Maciel, Homero
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 22.03.2019; MDPI
• Subjects: Aluminum nitride; Backscattering; Carbon; Chemical composition; Chemical properties; Chemical Sciences; Chemical vapor deposition; Crystal structure; Crystallinity; Glass substrates; grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD); high-power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS); Magnetic properties; Magnetron sputtering; Material chemistry; Plasma; Plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition; Power supply; Quantum dots; Raman spectroscopy; Room temperature; Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS); Scientific imaging; Silicon carbide; Silicon substrates; Stoichiometry; thin film; Thin films; United States > US; Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS); grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD); thin film; aluminum nitride; high-power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS); Raman spectroscopy; silicon carbide
• ISSN: 2072-666X; 2072-666X
• DOI: 10.3390/mi10030202

Many strategies have been developed for the synthesis of silicon carbide (SiC) thin films on silicon (Si) substrates by plasma-based deposition techniques, especially plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) and magnetron sputtering, due to the importance of these materials for microelectronics and related fields. A drawback is the large lattice mismatch between SiC and Si. The insertion of an aluminum nitride (AlN) intermediate layer between them has been shown useful to overcome this problem. Herein, the high-power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) technique was used to grow SiC thin films on AlN/Si substrates. Furthermore, SiC films were also grown on Si substrates. A comparison of the structural and chemical properties of SiC thin films grown on the two types of substrate allowed us to evaluate the influence of the AlN layer on such properties. The chemical composition and stoichiometry of the samples were investigated by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) and Raman spectroscopy, while the crystallinity was characterized by grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD). Our set of results evidenced the versatility of the HiPIMS technique to produce polycrystalline SiC thin films at near-room temperature by only varying the discharge power. In addition, this study opens up a feasible route for the deposition of crystalline SiC films with good structural quality using an AlN intermediate layer.