Silicon carbide film deposition at low temperatures using monomethylsilane gas

A silicon carbide film is formed at low temperatures on a silicon surface by chemical vapor deposition using monomethylsilane gas along with hydrogen chloride gas in ambient hydrogen at atmospheric pressure. A 0.2-μm thick film, obtained at 1073 K and at a hydrogen chloride gas concentration greater than that of the monomethylsilane gas, possessed a specular surface having the root-mean-square microroughness of 0.7 nm. At temperatures lower than 900 K, the 0.1-μm thick silicon carbide film could be formed on the silicon surface, immediately after the surface cleaning in ambient hydrogen at 1373 K. Because the weight of the film formed at room temperature did not decrease after the etching using hydrogen chloride gas at 1073 K, the film obtained in this study is expected to be a tough coating film.