Influence of target grit count and sintering temperature on pulsed laser deposition of SiC thin films

A pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique for depositing SiC on Si(100) substrates using Nd³⁺:YAG laser at 355 nm is studied. The influence of substrate temperature, ambient pressure, and SiC powder grit size on both structure and morphology of SiC thin film is investigated. Further, the influence of the target preparation on the reduction of droplet formation during Nd³⁺:YAG laser-assisted pulsed laser deposition of SiC thin films is investigated. Experimental studies show that multicrystalline SiC film can be obtained with temperature ranging from 600 to 700 °C and at an ambient pressure of about 5.5 × 10^?3 Pa. Further, droplet formation on the deposited film was reduced significantly by selecting the grit count of SiC powder 500 and the pressure of 2 × 10^?2 Pa. SiC target sintered at 1,600 °C showed a reduced wear during the laser ablation. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) and the Raman spectroscopy studies on deposited films clearly show the multicrystalline (combined 3C-SiC and 4H-SiC) nature of SiC films. I-V characteristics of deposited SiC film on n-type c-Si substrate also indicated that SiC thin film possesses P-type semiconductor properties.