Journal
THIN SOLID FILMS
Volume 519, Issue 7, Pages 2218-2224Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE SA
DOI: 10.1016/j.tsf.2010.11.005
Keywords
Amorphous silicon carbide; Hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide; Annealing; Oxidatin
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Funding
- Japanese Society of Promotion of Science [P 05662]
- Civilian Research & Development Foundation [UKE2-2856]
- MEXT, Japan [474]
- Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research [19053004, 21360321] Funding Source: KAKEN
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Thermal annealing and oxidation effects in hydrogenated (a-SiC:H) and nonhydrogenated (a-SIC) amorphous silicon-carbon alloy films deposited by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering have been studied. The a-SiC:H and a-SiC films were thermally treated in dry Ar, wet Ar, and dry O-2 atmospheres at temperatures up to 1150 degrees C. The principal effects of thermal annealing in an inert atmosphere on a-SiC:H films were found to be redistribution of hydrogen bonds and formation of amorphous graphitic carbon clusters. Strong oxidation of a-SiC:H was observed after thermal treatment in oxygen at 700 degrees C while annealing in wet argon caused partial oxidation. Oxidation of the carbon clusters in porous a-SiC:H structures is suggested to be responsible for the higher oxidation efficiency of a-SiC:H in oxygen. In contrast, the structure of a-SiC films remained almost unchanged after annealing in dry argon up to 1000 degrees C. No oxidation of a-SiC was detected until 1000 degrees C. Water vapor was found to be more effective at oxidizing a-SIC at 1000 degrees C than dry oxygen, which is similar to the oxidation behavior of crystalline SIC. The high thermal and oxidation stabilities of a-SiC layers were attributed to the dense and nanovoid-free amorphous SiC network. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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