IN-SITU INFRARED ELLIPSOMETRY STUDY OF HYDROGENATED AMORPHOUS CARBON SI INTERFACE FORMATION/

The early stages of the growth of plasma-deposited hydrogenated amorph ous carbon him on c-Si have been studied by in situ infrared ellipsome try. Different types of polymeric him have been obtained under soft pl asma conditions. From the evolution of optical properties, a uniform g rowth is observed for films having the highest sp(2) carbon atom conte nt. In contrast, when the him bulk is a highly saturated polymer, wher e carbon configurations are mostly sp(3), an interlayer of about 20 An gstrom is evidenced, correlated with the formation of sp(2) CHn bonds. Moreover, infrared data tend to prove that this interlayer formation is incompatible with the presence of SiC at the interface. (C) 1998 Am erican Institute of Physics.