Study on SiC layers synthesized with carbon ion beam at low substrate temperature

Carbon implantation into silicon, at beam energies from 30 to 60 keV and at ion doses of 3.0 x 10(17) to 1.5 x 10(18) cm(-2) with a metal vapor vacuum are ion, was performed to form SiC layers at substrate temperatures below 400 degrees C. It was found that the substrate temperature for the conversi on of amorphous phase SiC (alpha-SiC) into cubic phase SiC (beta-SiC) durin g the carbon implantation, is much lower than the conversion temperature (a pprox. 900 degrees C) of alpha-SiC into beta-SiC induced by the post-anneal ing. The feature of the low substrate temperature of the metal vapor vacuum are (MEVVA) ion source is thought to be due to the ion-beam-induced crysta llization (IBIC) effect. The profile of the carbon content, which is of Gau ssian shape similar to the data of TRIM-90 calculation, is associated well with the distribution of the ratio of [relative amount of beta-SiC/relative amount of alpha-SiC] in the SiC layers. Moreover, in the carbon rich regio n the higher degree of crystallization is attributed to the higher beta-SiC fraction. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.