Nanocrystalline cubic silicon carbide films prepared by hot-wire chemical vapor deposition using SiH4/CH4/H2 at a low substrate temperature

Abstract To elucidate the availability of CH 4 gas as a carbon source for low-substrate-temperature (325 °C) deposition of nanocrystalline SiC films, we investigated the effect of tungsten filament temperature ( T f ) with a HW-CVD technique. The film structure changed from amorphous into nanocrystalline cubic SiC (3C–SiC) with increasing T f from 1400 °C to 1600 °C. The film prepared at T f = 1600 °C contained not only 3C–SiC nanocrystallites but also amorphous silicon (a-Si) phase. At T f ⩾ 1700 °C, stoichiometric nanocrystalline 3C–SiC films were obtained and did not show a Raman peak due to a-Si but just peaks due to 3C–SiC. It was found that an increase in T f enhanced the crystallinity of SiC films, and that CH 4 was quite useful for preparing nanocrystalline SiC films.