Argon incorporation on silicon carbide thin films deposited by bias co-sputtering technique

Abstract

The influence of negative substrate bias on the chemical, electrical and mechanical properties of silicon carbide (SiC) thin films deposited onto (100) silicon substrate by dc magnetron cosputtering without external substrate heating is reported. These studies were performed by using the following techniques: Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS), profilometry, Raman spectroscopy, four-point probe method and nanoindentation. The results indicate that there is a good correlation between the substrate bias voltage and the argon incorporation into SiC film, namely, the SiC films deposited under substrate bias of -200 V and -300 V have higher argon content and higher elastic modulus and hardness than those deposited at 0 V. An opposite behavior was found for electrical resistivity: the SiC deposited at -300 V has resistivity of 0.45 Ω.cm whereas the deposited at 0 V has 7.0 Ω.cm. © 2012 Materials Research Society.