Thin Films of Amorphous Germanium‐Carbon Alloy Prepared by Radio‐Frequency Magnetron Sputtering

Abstract

Thin films of amorphous germanium‐carbon alloy were obtained by sputtering germanium and carbon targets with argon in radio‐frequency magnetron sputtering equipment. The films with the same value of x had some differences in structure depending on deposition conditions. For a radio‐frequency power of 50 W, the film mainly exhibited Ge‒C bonds and showed the maximum energy gap for each composition x. For higher values of radio‐frequency power, however, the film included excess germanium clusters which gave a lower value in energy gap.