Low-energy Ar+ ion beam induced chemical vapor deposition of silicon carbide films using dimethylsilane

In this paper, a methodology for silicon carbide (SiC) film formation by ion beam induced chemical vapor deposition (IBICVD) using dimethylsilane (DMS) is presented. Both pure DMS gas and Ar+ ion beam were simultaneously injected to a Si substrate. The Ar+ ion energy was 100 eV. The Si substrate temperature was 400, 600, or 800 degrees C. The duration of each ion beam injection experiment was 10 h. When the substrate temperature was 400 degrees C, no film formation occurred by the IBICVD experiment. In the case of 600 degrees C, a film was found to be formed on the substrate by the injection of both DMS gas and Ar+ ion beam. Although Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy measurement of the film showed that the film consisted of SiC, the film thickness was not enough to analyze the film characteristics further. When the Si substrate was set at 800 degrees C, a film was formed on the substrate by IBICVD. FTIR, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements of the film showed the occurrence of SiC deposition. The XPS measurement also showed that the atomic concentration ratio of carbon to silicon (C/Si ratio) of the film was 1.36. Therefore, excessive C atoms were incorporated to the deposited films. On the contrary, the C/Si ratio of a SiC film prepared by the thermal CVD method using DMS was 1.88. These results suggest that the Ar+ ion beam induced chemical vapor deposition using DMS is useful for reducing of the amount of C atoms to be excessively included in the film.