Spectroscopic study of β-SiC prepared via PLD at 1064 nm

Abstract

The physical properties of the wide band-gap β-SiC make it a promising material for future applications in high-power, high-temperature and high-frequency devices. Up to now, SiC has been successfully employed in field effect transistors, bipolar storage capacitors and ultraviolet detectors. In this work, we present new attempts to prepare crystalline β-SiC at 650 °C by means of Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD). X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) have been used to determine the crystalline and morphological properties of the deposited β-SiC thin films grown on different substrates: sapphire and silicon. The optical constants in the visible range and the band gap energy have been determined by Spectroscopic Ellipsometry (SE) which is a powerful non-destructive technique for high accuracy measurements. SiC thin films deposited on sapphire give rise to hetero-epitaxial growth resulting in an organized structure while the sample deposited on silicon grows polycrystalline. The correlation between the band-gap energy and the crystalline phases and growth conditions will be discussed. © 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.