Deposition of silicon carbide thin films by pulsed-excimer-laser ablation technique in the (25-700)degree C deposition temperature range

My Ali El Khakani; E. Gat; Yves Beaudoin; Mohamed Chaker; C. Monteil; Daniel Guay; G. Letourneau; Henri Pepin

doi:10.1117/12.206251

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10 April 1995 Deposition of silicon carbide thin films by pulsed excimer laser ablation technique in the 25-700°C deposition temperature range

My Ali El Khakani, E. Gat, Yves Beaudoin, Mohamed Chaker, C. Monteil, Daniel Guay, G. Letourneau, Henri Pepin

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Proceedings Volume 2403, Laser-Induced Thin Film Processing; (1995) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.206251
Event: Photonics West '95, 1995, San Jose, CA, United States

Abstract

Laser ablation deposition technique was used to deposit silicon carbide thin films on both Si(100) and quartz substrates. The deposition was accomplished by ablating SiC sintered ceramic targets, using a KrF (248 nm) excimer laser. At a laser intensity of about 1 X 10⁹ W/cm², substrate temperatures in the (25-700) degree(s)C range were investigated. When the deposition temperature is varied from 27 to 650 degree(s)C, (i) the density of a-SiC films increases from 2.6 to 3.0 g cm^-3, while their mean roughness value (for a film thickness of about 1 micrometers ) slightly changes from 0.44 to 0.5 nm; (ii) the optical transmission of a-SiC films is significantly improved (the absorption coefficient at 632.8 nm wavelength was reduced by a factor of about 5); and (iii) their Si-C bond density, as determined by FTIR spectroscopy, increases from (13.1 +/- 1.3) to (23.4 +/- 2.4) 10²² bond cm^-3. The increased number of Si-C bonds is correlated to the increase of the optical transmission. Over all the investigated deposition temperature range, the a-SiC films were found to be under high compressive stress around a mean value of about 1.26 GPa. The control of the stress of a-SiC films was achieved by means of post- thermal annealings and the annealed a-SiC films were successfully used to fabricate x-ray membranes.

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My Ali El Khakani, E. Gat, Yves Beaudoin, Mohamed Chaker, C. Monteil, Daniel Guay, G. Letourneau, and Henri Pepin "Deposition of silicon carbide thin films by pulsed excimer laser ablation technique in the 25-700°C deposition temperature range", Proc. SPIE 2403, Laser-Induced Thin Film Processing, (10 April 1995); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.206251

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