Strong dependence of IR absorption in a-SiC:H dc magnetron sputtered thin ®lms on H2 partial pressure

The usual method for deposition of hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide (a-SiC:H) thin ®lms is the radio-frequency (rf) magnetron sputtering method in an Ar and CH4 mixture. In this paper, we present a dc magnetron sputtering method for a- SiC:H thin ®lms. The ®lms were deposited in a mixture of CH4, H2 and Ar. The target used was polycrystalline Si. We found that the hydrogen partial pressure has a decisive contribution to the ®lm composition. The presence of hydrogen leads to dominant Si±C bonds in ®lm composition while the absence of molecular hydrogen leads to a dominant C±H bonds in ®lm composition. Also, the total pressure during the deposition was found to play an important role for the ®lm composition. # 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.