DEPOSITION OF AMORPHOUS HYDROGENATED SILICON-CARBIDE FILMS USING ORGANOSILANES IN AN ARGON HYDROGEN PLASMA

Nearly stoichiometric, amorphous silicon carbide films with a relative ly low hydrogen content were deposited from organsilanes on a variety of substrates in a microwave-generated plasma without external heating . The films undergo little weight loss upon pyrolysis to 800-degrees-C . The effect of the different deposition parameters on the film compos ition and the exhaust gas was established through a battery of tests i ncluding infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy, Auger electron spect roscopy, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, ellipsometry, and mass spec troscopy. For a given power level there is a limiting feeding rate of the precursor under which operation of the system is dominated by ther modynamics and thus leads to the desired product. Beyond that limit, e xcessive hydrogen incorporation and carbosilane polymer formation take s place. The hydrogen content of the plasma is also an important param eter affecting the chemistry of the deposition. In the thermodynamical ly dominated regime the nature of the precursor has no effect on the q uality of the film. It affects only the relative utilization efficienc y.