Electrical and structural properties of rapid thermal annealed amorphous silicon carbide films

The effect of rapid thermal annealing (RTA) on radio frequency (rf) sputtered amorphous silicon carbide films prepared under different hydrogen partial pressures (P-H) was examined. The structural study showed that the effect of RTA on the film properties was similar to that of furnace annealing. Therefore, the mechanisms suggested for furnace annealing could equally be applied to the RTA case. The electrical results showed that the effects of RTA and furnace annealing on interface trapped charge density (D-it) for the unhydrogenated films can be explained satisfactorily using the conclusions obtained from the structural study. For the hydrogenated films, the influence of annealing on D-it warrants further investigation.