US 7,396,563 B2Granted

Ceramic thin film on various substrates, and process for producing same

AssigneeSixtron Advanced Materials, Inc.

InventorsMihai Scarlete, Cetin Aktik

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Abstract

The process of Polymer Assisted Chemical Vapor Deposition (PACVD) and the semiconductor, dielectric, passivating or protecting thin films produced by the process are described. A semiconductor thin film of amorphous silicon carbide is obtained through vapor deposition following desublimation of pyrolysis products of polymeric precursors in inert or active atmosphere. PA-CVD allows one or multi-layers compositions, microstructures and thicknesses to be deposited on a wide variety of substrates. The deposited thin film from desublimation is an n-type semiconductor with a low donor concentration in the range of 1014-1017 cm−3. Many devices can be fabricated by the PA-CVD method of the invention such as; solar cells; light-emitting diodes; transistors; photothyristors, as well as integrated monolithic devices on a single chip. Using this novel technique, high deposition rates can be obtained from chemically synchronized Si—C bonds redistribution in organo-polysilanes in the temperature range of about 200-450° C.

Claims17

Dependent claims

A method of depositing a thin ceramic film onto a substrate comprising:

providing a polymeric source selected from the group consisting of a boron nitride polymer, a carbon nitride polymer, a polysilane, a polycarbosilane, a polycarbosilazane or a polysiloxazane, the polymeric source comprising chains,
volatilizing the polymeric source in a heating zone;
providing the substrate in a deposition zone;
heating the polymeric source under a gaseous atmosphere having a pressure and a flowrate in a pyrolysis zone, whereby pyrolyzing the polymeric source to produce a gaseous precursor at a first temperature comprising said chains of the polymeric source;
positioning the substrate in the deposition zone to receive the gaseous precursors carried by the gaseous atmosphere;
and
cooling the substrate at a second temperature in the deposition zone below the first temperature whereby desublimating the gaseous precursor onto the substrate, the precursor chemically rearranging and annealing to produce the film on the substrate, the film having properties that include an amorphous nature, a crystallinity and a degree of reticulation.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.