Effect of Aluminum (Al) in crystallization of a-SiC for betavoltaic fabrication [abstract]

Abstract

Metal-Induced Crystallization (MIC) technique was used to crystallize hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide (a-SiC:H) films with different Aluminum (Al) thicknesses. Amorphous silicon carbide (a-SiC:H) was deposited on quartz, and silicon (Si) n-type substrates at a deposition temperature of 400°C by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). To optimize the crystallization process, Aluminum thin films of different thicknesses (200 nm, 100 nm, 50nm and 25nm of sputtered Al) were deposited on a-SiC:H films which were then annealed at 600°C in N2 environment for one hour. UV-visible spectrophotometer, current-voltage (I-V) characteristic curve, and Hall measurement system were used to characterize the films. The betevoltaic device utilizes radioactive material to produce electric power. Preliminary results show that our prepared crystalline SiC layer is a good candidate for fabricating betavoltaic devices with out degradation.