Structural and electrical characterization of annealed Si1-xCx/SiC thin film prepared by magnetron sputtering

Si-rich Sil-xCx/SiC multilayer thin films are prepared using magnetron sputtering, subsequently followed by thermal annealing in the range of 800-1200 ℃. The influences of annealing temperature （Ta） on the formation of Si and/or SiC nanocrystals （NCs） and on the electrical characteristics of the multilayer film are investigated by using a variety of analytical techniques, including X-ray diffraction （XRD）, Raman spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectrometry （FT-IR）, current-voltage （I-V） technique, and capacitance-voltage （C-V） technique. XRD and Raman analyses indicate that Si NCs begin to form in samples for Ta _ 800 ~C. At annealing temperatures of 1000 ℃ or higher, the formation of Si NCs is accompanied by the formation of SiC NCs. With the increase in the annealing temperature, the shift of FT-IR Si-C bond absorption spectra toward a higher wave number along with the change of band shape can be explained by a Si-C transitional phase between the loss of substitutional carbon and the formation of SiC precipitates and a precursor for the growth of SiC crystalline. The C-V and I-V results indicate that the interface quality of Si1-xCx/SiC multilayer film is improved significantly and the leakage current is reduced rapidly for Ta ≥ 1000 ℃, which can be ascribed to the formation of Si and SiC NCs.

Structural and electrical characterization of annealed Si_(1-x)C_x/SiC thin film prepared by magnetron sputtering

SiC, magnetron sputtering, annealing, leakage current