Crystallization kinetics of amorphous SiC films: Influence of substrate

Abstract The crystallization kinetics of amorphous silicon carbide films was studied by means of X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The films were deposited by radio frequency (r.f.) magnetron sputtering on glassy carbon and single crystalline silicon substrates, respectively. TEM micrographs and XRD patterns show the formation of nano-crystalline β-SiC with crystallite sizes in the order of 50 nm during annealing at temperatures between 1200 and 1600 °C. A modified Johnson–Mehl–Avrami–Kolmogorov (JMAK) formalism was used to describe the isothermal transformation of amorphous SiC into β-SiC as an interface controlled, three-dimensional growth processes fr…