Morphology and growth mechanism of amorphous silicon carbide sputtered on anodic aluminum template by radio frequency magnetron sputtering

Amorphous silicon carbide (a-SiC) was deposited on anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) templates prepared by secondary anodization at low temperature by radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) results show that periodic structures with large hexagonal cell of the deposited a-SiC are formed, accompanied by a number of point defects of different sizes, and some irregular defects are formed densely around these point defects. The analysis shows that the a-SiC is anisotropic growth with six vertices of alumina hexagonal cell as the center. In this process, the stress between the alumina and the a-SiC plays an important role in the growth, and the defects destroy the periodic structure.