AVS 50th International Symposium
    Thin Films Wednesday Sessions
       Session TF-WeP

Paper TF-WeP33
Combined RF Magnetron Sputtering and Ion Implantation for the Synthesis of Silicon Carbonitride Thin Films

Wednesday, November 5, 2003, 11:00 am, Room Hall A-C

Session: Poster Session
Presenter: M. Bruns, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe GmbH, Germany
Authors: M. Bruns, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe GmbH, Germany
H. Lutz, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe GmbH, Germany
M. Rudolphi, Universitaet Frankfurt, Germany
H. Baumann, Universitaet Frankfurt, Germany
Correspondent: Click to Email
Silicon Carbonitride thin films have been the subject of great interest in recent years due to the expected improvement of surface properties for a lot of applications. Various precursor based techniques have been employed to synthezise the pure materials. However, most of these efforts result in amorphous films or tiny crystals embedded in amorphous matrices of deficient nitrogen content and considerable hydrogen and oxygen impurities, respectively. In contrast, RF magnetron sputtering as well as ion implantation have been proven suitable means to achieve high-purity ternary systems of up to 57 at.% nitrogen content, e.g. Si@sub 2@CN@sub 4@. However, carbon rich compounds (i.e. SiC@sub 2@N@sub 4@) are not attainable on this way. For that the combination of both means seams to be a promising approach. Defined and reproducible Si/C ratios within the films can be obtained using co-sputter targets of different Si/C areas. In a second step surface modification by high fluence implantation of @super 15@N ions into these Si-C films result in suitable nitrogen content up to the theoretical amount. Severalfold implantation at different energies calculated from Monte-Carlo-simulations enable us to synthesize layers with homogeneous element depth-distribution up to the surface. @paragraph@The chemical composition of the Si-C-N films was characterized by means of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). In addition, Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and Raman spectroscopy were used to achieve a comprehensive characterization. For quantification XPS and AES data were calibrated with absolute concentration values from non-Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (n-RBS). Resonant nuclear reaction analysis (NRRA) provides non-destructive depth profiles of @super 15@N. The morphology after subsequent annealing was studied by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM).