Hardness and elastic modulus of amorphous and nanocrystalline SiC and Si films

Hydrogen-free amorphous and nanocrystalline films were prepared by magnetron sputtering of the SiC or Si targets. Mechanical properties (hardness, elastic modulus, intrinsic stress) and film structures were investigated in dependence on the substrate bias and temperature. It was found that both hardness and elastic modulus of all amorphous a-SiC films prepared at different substrate temperatures and biases are always lower than those for bulk α-SiC single crystal while the hardness of partially crystalline SiC films is higher and the elastic modulus lower than those for α-SiC one. In contrast, both hardness and elastic modulus of all amorphous Si films are always lower than those for nanocrystalline Si films which show approximately the same value as the Si single crystal.