Dresden 2009 – scientific programme

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MM: Fachverband Metall- und Materialphysik

MM 16: Diffusion and Point Defects I

MM 16.1: Talk

Tuesday, March 24, 2009, 11:30–11:45, IFW B

Diffusion and Crystallization in Magnetron Sputtered SiC Films — •Wolfgang Gruber and Harald Schmidt — TU Clausthal, Institut für Metallurgie, AG Materialphysik

Thin films of amorphous and polycrystalline SiC have a great potential for applications in various branches of technology. For a tailored production of polycrystalline films a understanding of nucleation and growth mechanisms which determine the microstructure are necessary. X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) studies on r.f. co-sputtered SiC films yielded a strong dependence of the crystallization rates on the substrate. For single crystalline silicon as a substrate an activation energy of about 4 eV is found for the rate of crystallization. If glassy carbon is used as a substrate the corresponding activation energy is about 9 eV. For a closer investigation of this phenomenon, in this study we investigated films deposited on different substrates with different thickness (100 nm to 1000 nm) and variable composition SiCx. Since self-diffusion plays an important role for crystallization we measured the diffusivities of the constituting elements using isotope enriched heterostructures and secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). Based on the experimental results a model for crystallization kinetics is discussed.