Crystallinity And Morphology Of Silicon Carbide Thin Films Deposited Using Very High Frequency Plasma Enchanced Chemical Vapor Deposition

  • Authors

    • Muhamad Azali Muizzudin
    • Abd Khamim Ismail
    • Muhammad Firdaus Omar
    2018-11-30
    https://doi.org/10.14419/ijet.v7i4.28.22613

  • Abstract

    Conventional plasma enchanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) has been widely used since decades to deposit silicon carbide (SiC) thin film. However, lower RF frequency tends to produce hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide (a-SiC:H) and poly-crystalline (p-SiC) type of films. This work aims to investigate the crystallinity, morphology and deposition temperature of SiC thin films at higher RF frequency. SiC thin films have been prepared on silicon substrates by using very high frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (VHF-PECVD). The utilisation of plasma at higher frequency is predicted to give a great impact to allow the chemical reaction at lower temperature with better crystallinity and morphology compared to conventional PECVD method. In this work, the substrate temperature and deposition time were kept constant at 400oC and 15 minutes respectively, while the RF frequency was veried between 100 MHz to 200 MHz. The crystallinity of SiC thin film samples was observed using Raman Spectroscopy while the morphology was examined under the atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopes (SEM). The results shown that the crystallinity and morphology of the samples were slightly improved as frequency increases. It was observed that the surface roughness of SiC thin films is improves from 5.43 nm at 100 MHz to 13.91 nm at 200 MHz.

  • References

    1. [1] J. Palmour, J. Edmond, … H. K.-W.-B.-G., and undefined 1993, “6H–silicon carbide devices and applications,†Elsevier.

      [2] S. Sheng, M. Spencer, X. Tang, … P. Z.-M. S. and, and undefined 1997, “An investigation of 3C-SiC photoconductive power switching devices,†Elsevier.

      [3] C. A. Zorman and R. J. Parro, “Micro- and nanomechanical structures for silicon carbide MEMS and NEMS,†Phys. Status Solidi Basic Res., vol. 245, no. 7, pp. 1404–1424, 2008.

      [4] C. Jung, D. Lim, H. Jee, M. Park, … S. K.-S. and C., and undefined 2003, “Hydrogenated amorphous and crystalline SiC thin films grown by RF-PECVD and thermal MOCVD; comparative study of structural and optical properties,†Elsevier.

      [5] C. Summonte, R. Rizzoli, M. Bianconi, A. Desalvo, D. Iencinella, and F. Giorgis, “Wide band-gap silicon-carbon alloys deposited by very high frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition,†J. Appl. Phys., vol. 96, no. 7, pp. 3987–3997, Oct. 2004.

      [6] J. L. M. Shibata, “Cross Section Specimen Preparation Device Using Argon Ion Beam for SEM,†2004.

      [7] R. De Oliveira, D. A.-… -Imaging, undefined Measuring, and undefined 2012, “Measurement of the nanoscale roughness by atomic force microscopy: basic principles and applications,†intechopen.com.

      [8] H.-L. Chen, Y.-C. Tu, C.-C. Hsieh, D.-L. Lin, and K.-C. Leou, “Generation of uniform large-area very high frequency plasmas by launching two specific standing waves simultaneously,†J. Appl. Phys., vol. 116, no. 10, p. 103307, Sep. 2014.

      [9] S. Zhang, L. Raniero, E. Fortunato, … L. P.-J. of non, and undefined 2004, “Characterization of silicon carbide thin films prepared by VHF-PECVD technology,†Elsevier.

      [10] H. Zhang, Z. X.-O. Materials, and undefined 2002, “Microstructure of nanocrystalline SiC films deposited by modified plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition,†Elsevier.

      [11] Z. An et al., “Fabrication of silicon carbide thin films by plasma immersion ion implantation with self-ignited glow discharge,†Elsevier.

      [12] R. Tu et al., “Effect of CH4/SiCl4 ratio on the composition and microstructure of< 110>-oriented β-SiC bulks by halide CVD,†Elsevier.

      [13] M. Bosi et al., “Growth and Characterization of 3C-SiC Films for Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) Applications,†Cryst. Growth Des., vol. 9, no. 11, pp. 4852–4859, Nov. 2009.

      [14] Sabu Thomas, Mohammed Arif P, E. Bhoje, Cyrstallization in Multiphase Polymer System. 2017.

      [15] E. Chen et al., “RF-PECVD deposition and optical properties of hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide thin films,†Elsevier.

  • Downloads

  • How to Cite

    Muizzudin, M. A., Ismail, A. K., & Omar, M. F. (2018). Crystallinity And Morphology Of Silicon Carbide Thin Films Deposited Using Very High Frequency Plasma Enchanced Chemical Vapor Deposition. International Journal of Engineering & Technology, 7(4.28), 350-353. https://doi.org/10.14419/ijet.v7i4.28.22613

    Received date: 2018-11-30

    Accepted date: 2018-11-30

    Published date: 2018-11-30