Characterization of LPCVD amorphous silicon carbide (a-SiC) as material for electron transparent windows

► Very thin non-stoichiometric amorphous SiC (a-SiCx) layers are deposited by LPCVD. ► Layers of 20 nm are continuous, show tensile stress and high chemical inertness. ► Electron transparent windows made of a-SiCx are fabricated. ► a-SiCx windows are highly transparent allowing TEM images with 0.12 nm resolution. ► a-SiCx windows show high resistance to TEM electron beam.