Low temperature deposition of SiC thin films on polymer surface by plasma CVD

SiC thin films coated on plastic materials are investigated for the protection from solar ultraviolet-radiation. Using hexamethyldisilane (HMDS) as a source material, we attempted to deposit SiC thin films on a polycarbonate (PC) resin at room temperature by a cathode deposition method in the capacitively coupled parallel plate rf CVD. It was found that the uniformity, deposition rate and film characteristics were much depended on the rf power and the substrate temperature. The deposition rate of the SiC thin film rises with increasing the rf power and decreases with the substrate temperature. As increased the rf power, the cut-off wavelength in optical transmittance characteristics shifts to the longer one. Furthermore, the SiC-coated PC plates exhibited remarkably to improve weatherability in a xenon arc test.