Thermal Plasma Chemical Vapor Deposition of Si-Based Ceramic Coatings from Liquid Precursors

In this paper a process based on the use of rf inductively coupled plasma is applied for the synthesis and deposition of Si-base ceramic materials (i.e., SiC, Si₃N₄, SiO₂). The starting materials are low-cost liquid disilanes. The atomization process is first investigated and the structure of the resulting coatings is characterized by means of X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy as well as with transmission electron microscopy. Results of the influence of some processing parameters (i.e., chamber pressure, spray distance, substrate cooling, plasma gas nature and composition, precursor composition and atomization parameters) on the phase and microstructure of the coating is reported. Control of the microstructure (or nanostructure) as well as the phase content, namely the / ratio of the phases for SiC and Si3N4, can be achieved with such a synthesis and deposition technique.