Mechanical characteristics of polycrystalline 3C-SiC thin films using Ar carrier gas by APCVD

Abstract

This paper describes the mechanical characteristics of poly 3C-SiC thin films grown on Si wafers with thermal oxide. In this work, the poly 3C-SiC thin film was deposited by APCVD method using only Ar carrier gas and single precursor HMDS at $1100^{\circ}C$. The elastic modulus and hardness of poly 3C-SiC thin films were measured using nanoindentation. Also, the roughness of surface was investigated by AFM. The resulting values of elastic modulus E, hardness H and the roughness of the poly 3C-SiC film are 305 GPa, 26 GPa and 49.35 nm respectively. The mechanical properties of the grown poly 3C-SiC film are better than bulk Si wafers. Therefore, the poly 3C-SiC thin film is suitable for abrasion, high frequency and MEMS applications.