Effect of gas flow ratio on the structure and optical properties of microporous SiC/Cu composite films

The composite films of metal and SiC have attracted much attention in the fields of microelectronics, heat conduction, and electromagnetic wave absorption because of their excellent properties. In this work, SiC/Cu3N composite films were prepared by magnetron sputtering technique, and the films were annealed at 500°C to obtain microporous SiC/Cu composite films. The effects of different N2 flow ratios (r) on the structure and properties of the composite films were investigated. The results show that the Cu grain size in the microporous SiC/Cu composite films increases and decreases as r increases. When r=1/4, the surface particles of the composite films are uniform in size, with uniform pores and stable structure. At the same time, the degree of graphitization in the film is relatively high. The composite films exhibit semiconductor properties with an optical band gap of 0.92 eV–1.29 eV. With the increase of r, the sp2–C bond content in the films increases and then decreases, and the optical band gap shows a trend of reducing and then increasing. This study provides a new strategy for preparing microporous SiC/Cu composite films for applications in the field of optoelectronic devices and energy storage devices.