Hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon carbide (SiC) thin films were deposited on the single-crystal silicon substrate using the heli-con wave plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (HW-PECVD) technique. The influences of magnetic field and hydrogen dilution ratio on the structures of SiC thin film were investigated with the atomic force microscopy (AFM), the Fourier transform infrared ab-sorption (FTIR) and the transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results indicate that the high plasma activity of the helicon wave mode proves to be a key factor to grow crystalline SiC thin films at a relative low substrate temperature. Also, the decrease in the grain sizes from the level of microcrystalline to that of nanocrystalline can be achieved by increasing the hydrogen dilution ratios. Transmis-sion electron microscopy measurements reveal that the size of most nanocrystals in the film deposited under the higher hydrogen dilution ratios is smaller than the doubled Bohr radius of 3C-SiC (approximately 5.4 nm), and the light emission measurements also show a strong blue photoluminescence at the room temperature, which is considered to be caused by the quantum confinement effect of small-sized SiC nanocrystals.
LU Wan-bing YU Wei WU Li-ping CUI Shuang-kui FU Guang-sheng
