Room Temperature Process for Chemical Vapor Deposition of Amorphous Silicon Carbide Thin Film Using Monomethylsilane Gas

Abstract

The silicon carbide thin film formation process, completely performed at room temperature, was developed by argon plasma and a chemical vapor deposition using monomethylsilane gas. Time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry showed that siliconcarbon bonds existed in the obtained film, the surface of which could remain specular after the exposure to hydrogen chloride gas at 800 o C. The silicon dangling bonds formed at the silicon surface by the argon plasma are considered to easily accept the monomethylsilane molecules at room temperature to produce the amorphous silicon carbide film.

Low temperature amorphous silicon carbide thin film formation process on aluminum surface using monomethylsilane gas and trichlorosilane gas

“…Additionally, the C3 peak at about 0.2 nm from the surface was found; this position was the same as that of the silicon oxide, Si2O5. Although the C3 peak might be mainly assigned to SiC, the peaks of C3 and Si2O5 could be the by-product amorphous, similar to our previous study [8].…”

“…For achieving deposition on various metals, the low temperature amorphous SiC film formation technology using monomethylsilane (MMS) gas [5][6][7][8][9][10] is expected to be applicable and hopeful. This technology consists of two steps, that is, (A) the reactive surface preparation (formation of dangling bonds and silicon dimers), and (B) the SiC film formation from MMS gas at room temperature.…”

“…This technology consists of two steps, that is, (A) the reactive surface preparation (formation of dangling bonds and silicon dimers), and (B) the SiC film formation from MMS gas at room temperature. In our previous studies, the reactive surface has been prepared using the three different processes, such as (I) the hydrogen annealing [5,6], (II) the silicon interlayer formation [7,10], and (III) the argon plasma etching [8]. Because Process (II) was shown to be possible on an aluminum surface [10], the characteristics of the SiC film and the silicon interlayer should be studied further.…”

Novel Photonic Applications of Silicon Carbide

“…Differently said, the reaction kinetics are infinitely slow. However, with organometallic precursors such as monomethylsilane (MMS), a deposition temperature lower than 650 °C and down to room temperature can form a-SiC [ 78 , 79 , 80 ].…”