TY - JOUR
T1 - Investigation of amorphous-SiC thin film deposition by RF magnetron sputtering for optical applications
AU - Chaussende, Didier
AU - Tabouret, Vincent
AU - Crisci, Alexandre
AU - Morais, Magali
AU - Coindeau, Stéphane
AU - Berthomé, Gregory
AU - Kollmuss, Manuel
AU - Wellmann, Peter
AU - Jomard, François
AU - Pinault-Thaury, Marie Amandine
AU - Lu, Yaoqin
AU - Shi, Xiaodong
AU - Ou, Haiyan
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2024/11/1
Y1 - 2024/11/1
N2 - Silicon carbide (SiC) is a rapidly emerging material for photonic applications, thanks to its exceptional optical properties. To be used as a waveguide, SiC thin films must be deposited directly on silica at low temperature. Amorphous SiC films were deposited by RF magnetron sputtering using a single source of high-purity polycrystalline SiC. A systematic study of the chemical, structural and optical properties of the films was carried out, using a combination of XRD, XPS, SIMS, spectroscopic ellipsometry, Raman spectroscopy and UV–Vis absorption spectroscopy. The aim was to link deposition conditions to film properties. By exploring a three-parameter space (RF power, substrate temperature, pressure), we have demonstrated that RF power is the main parameter which controls the entire deposition process and film properties. By simply adjusting the RF plasma power between 150 and 450 W, it is possible to adjust the refractive index at a wavelength of 1.5 μm in the range 2.50–2.75 and vary the bandgap from 2.5 to 1.7 eV. This is attributed to a slight variation in film composition, particularly in terms of Si/C ratio and C–C bond concentration.
AB - Silicon carbide (SiC) is a rapidly emerging material for photonic applications, thanks to its exceptional optical properties. To be used as a waveguide, SiC thin films must be deposited directly on silica at low temperature. Amorphous SiC films were deposited by RF magnetron sputtering using a single source of high-purity polycrystalline SiC. A systematic study of the chemical, structural and optical properties of the films was carried out, using a combination of XRD, XPS, SIMS, spectroscopic ellipsometry, Raman spectroscopy and UV–Vis absorption spectroscopy. The aim was to link deposition conditions to film properties. By exploring a three-parameter space (RF power, substrate temperature, pressure), we have demonstrated that RF power is the main parameter which controls the entire deposition process and film properties. By simply adjusting the RF plasma power between 150 and 450 W, it is possible to adjust the refractive index at a wavelength of 1.5 μm in the range 2.50–2.75 and vary the bandgap from 2.5 to 1.7 eV. This is attributed to a slight variation in film composition, particularly in terms of Si/C ratio and C–C bond concentration.
KW - Amorphous
KW - Deposition process
KW - Magnetron sputtering
KW - Optical properties
KW - Silicon carbide
U2 - 10.1016/j.mssp.2024.108673
DO - 10.1016/j.mssp.2024.108673
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85198277912
SN - 1369-8001
VL - 182
JO - Materials Science in Semiconductor Processing
JF - Materials Science in Semiconductor Processing
M1 - 108673
ER -