Effect of hydrogen in the crystallization of amorphous silicon carbide for betavoltaic fabrication [abstract]

Abstract

Plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) (Applied Materials P5000, CA) was used to deposit three different types of hydrogenated amorphous Silicon Carbide (a-SiC:H) films on quartz and n-type Si substrates. These samples differ from each other in the amount (300 sccm, 200 sccm and 100 sccm) of methane (CH4) used in the deposition chamber. After analyzing the Fourier Transform Infra Red (FTIR) spectroscopy data of the as deposited samples it was observed that the film prepared with 100 sccm of CH4 shows higher hydrogen content than others. After sputtering different amounts of Al on various types of films, the samples were annealed at 550°C and 600°C for one hour. Being the samples with the greatest amount of hydrogen more prompt to crystallization and less absorption in the UV-Vis spectrum. Samples were then characterized with hall voltage measurement and I-V measurement. Initial results show that with an optimized process, betavoltaic devices can be fabricated without degradation.