Effect of sputtering power on the structure and optical band gap of SiC thin films

Amorphous SiC (a-SiC) thin films with a quartz plate as the substrate were prepared under different radio frequency (RF) powers through RF magnetron sputtering. Films structures were characterized by atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectrum. The absorption spectra of the thin films were acquired with UV-visible spectroscopy. Results showed that thin films prepared under different RF powers have different structures. With the increase in power, the maximum peak height, mean roughness, and mean square roughness increase initially and then decrease. The thin films are mainly composed of SiC and SiO2 bonds and contain abundant C. ID/IG increases as power increases. The UV-visible light absorption spectra confirmed that the thin films have strong UV absorption capacity but low absorption capacity in the infrared region. The optical band gap of the thin films ranges between 1.29 and 1.80 eV. With the increase in RF power, the sp3/sp2C hybrid bond in the thin films increases, resulting in a reduction of the optical band gap.