Superconformal silicon carbide coatings via precursor pulsed chemical vapor deposition

In this work, silicon carbide coatings (SiC) were successfully grown by pulsed chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The precursors silicon tetrachloride (SiCl4) and ethylene (C2H4) were not supplied in a continuous flow, but were pulsed alternately into the growth chamber with H2 as a carrier and a purge gas. A typical pulsed CVD cycle was SiCl4 pulse – H2 purge – C2H4 pulse – H2 purge. This led to the growth of superconformal SiC coatings, which could not be obtained under similar process conditions using a constant flow CVD process. We propose a two-step mechanism for the SiC growth via pulsed CVD. During the SiCl4 pulse, a layer of Si is deposited. In the following C2H4 pulse, this Si layer is carburized, and SiC is formed. The high chlorine surface coverage after the SiCl4 pulse is believed to enable the superconformal growth via a growth inhibition mechanism.