Low-Temperature Growth of Oriented Silicon Carbide on Silicon by Reactive Hydrogen Plasma Sputtering Technique

Abstract
Highly oriented β-SiC film is prepared on (100) Si substrate at 800°C by reactive hydrogen plasma sputtering of a ceramic SiC target. The highly oriented β-SiC film can be grown on (100) Si substrate without void formation at the SiC film/Si interface. Hydrogen plasma etching of the growing film plays an important role in the growth of the oriented β-SiC films. Voids at the SiC film/Si interface are formed at a temperature of about 800°C due to the reaction of SiC film with Si substrate. Also, a thin amorphous buffer layer of 5 nm thickness is formed at the SiC film/Si interface. The results of this study indicate that the buffer layer can be eliminated by a suitable surface treatment of Si substrate before film growth.