Hard a-SiC:H films formed by remote hydrogen microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition using a novel single-source precursor

The a-SiC:H films were produced by remote hydrogen plasma chemical vapor deposition (RP-CVD) from bis(dimethylsilyl)ethane as a novel single-source precursor. The effect of substrate temperature (T-S) on the kinetics of RP-CVD, chemical composition, structure, surface morphology, and properties of resulting films (density, refractive index, photoluminescence, hardness, elasticity, and resistance to wear) is reported. The T-S dependence of film growth rate implies that RP-CVD is an adsorption controlled process. The increase of T-S from 30 degrees C to 400 degrees C causes the elimination of organic moieties from the film and the formation of Si-C network structure. The relationships between the relative integrated intensity of Si-C IR band and film properties were determined. The films deposited at T-S = 300 degrees C appear to be very hard materials exhibiting small surface roughness and low intensity of blue photoluminescence (PL). They seem to be suitable protective coatings for metals to increase their wear strength. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.