Comparative study of porous amorphous a-Si1-xCx films and a-Si1-xCx membranes on structural and luminescence properties

Electrochemical etching of amorphous SIC in fluoride solution was studied. Anodic dissolution and passivation are observed for p-type electrodes under dark illumination. The dissolution of p-type a-Si1-xCx is found to be under mixed transport/kinetic control; the diffusion current is of first order in fluoride concentration. Porous etching was not observed in this case. The surface finish of 6H-SiC depends on the experimental conditions; both uniform and porous etching is observed. In this paper, we report the formation of porous p-type amorphous SIC (a-Si1-xCx) films, elaborated previously by DC magnetron sputtering and analyze the porous layers (PSC) using scanning electron microscopy, spectrophotometer and photoluminescence. The crystal structures and the preparation conditions of porous SiC are shown to have an effect on the structural and electrical properties of the material obtained. SEM observation indicates that the porous a-Si1-xCx layers have shown some specific feature; a semi-cylindrical structure of the porous network has been observed. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.