Remote hydrogen microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition from methylsilane precursors. 1. Growth mechanism and chemical structure of deposited a-SiC:H films

Amorphous hydrogenated silicon carbide (a-SiC:H) thin films were produced by remote microwave hydrogen plasma chemical vapor deposition (RP-CVD) using dimethylsilane (DMS) and trimethylsilane (TrMS) as single-source precursors. The effect of substrate temperature on the rate of RP-CVD process, chemical composition and chemical structure of resulting a-SiC:H films is reported. The Arrhenius plots of substrate temperature dependencies of the thickness-based film growth rate imply that the investigated RP-CVD for DMS precursor is a non-thermally activated process, whereas for TrMS precursor is an adsorption-controlled process. The examination of the a-SiC:H films performed by means of Auger electron spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and Fourier transform infrared absorption spectroscopy, revealed that the increase in the substrate temperature from 30°C to 400°C causes the elimination of organic moieties from the films and the formation of Si-carbidic network structures. On the basis of the results of structural study the elementary reactions involved in the formation of a-SiC:H films are proposed. •Effect of thermal activation on the kinetics of a-SiC:H films’ growth is determined.•Effect of deposition temperature on a-SiC:H films chemical structure is examined.•a-SiC:H films are characterized by atomic ratio Si/C and content of Si-C bonds.•The correlations between compositional and structural parameters were determined.