Laser treatment of a-SiC:H thin films for optoelectronic applications

Amorphous and hydrogenated (a-SiC:H) as well as crystalline silicon carbide are widespread materials for optoelectronic applications. In this paper, we studied the effect of the laser / RF plasma jet treatment of a-SiC:H thin films deposited by Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD), on Si wafers. A Nd:YAG laser (lambda=1.06 mu m, t(FWHM)=14 ns, E-0=0.015 J/pulse) was used with a fluence of 4 mJ/cm(2) incident on the sample, the number of pulses being varied. Plasma treatments were performed in a plasma jet generated by a capacity coupled RF discharge in N-2. Different analysis techniques were used to investigate the films, before and after the irradiation: X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). We followed the modification of their structure and composition as an effect of the laser/plasma treatment. A comparison with the excimer and also with the RF treatments was performed.