Ultrafast thermal plasma physical vapor deposition of thick SiC films

Thick silicon carbide films have been successfully deposited at a deposition rate of 125 nm/s on stationary graphite substrates by the thermal plasma physical vapor deposition technique, with ultrafine SiC powder fed into a hybrid plasma jet and completely evaporated. The relationship between the processing parameters and the morphology, deposition rate, composition and crystal structure has been investigated under the typical conditions of substrate temperature in the range of 1400–1700 °C and chamber pressure of 250 Torr, and compared with the results of rotating substrate deposition at the substrate temperature of around 750 °C. It was found that the deposition rate and composition showed different processing parameter dependences for rotating substrate deposition and stationary substrate deposition. The films showed dense cross-sections or cauliflower-like structures depending on the deposition conditions.

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