Infrared and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy studies of as-prepared and furnace-annealed radio-frequency sputtered amorphous silicon carbide films

The effects of annealing on the structural properties of radio-frequency sputtered amorphous silicon carbide films prepared under different hydrogen partial pressures (P-H) were investigated. Infrared (IR) results of the as-prepared films suggest that as P-H increases, more hydrogen is incorporated into the film to form the Si-H and C-H bonds and less silicon and carbon atoms are available to form the Si-C bonds. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) results of the as-prepared films agree with the IR results in that the percent of Si-C decreases and the percent of Si-H and C-H increases as P-H increases. IR and XPS results of the annealed films suggest that as the annealing temperature increases, the dangling Si and C bonds will combine to form the Si-C bonds for the unhydrogenated samples. The increase in Si-C bonds for the hydrogenated samples is more likely to be due to the formation of Si-C bonds from the breaking up of the Si-H and C-H bonds. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.