CHARACTERIZATION OF ALUMINUM-DOPED HYDROGENATED AMORPHOUS SILICON CARBIDE (a-SiC:H(Al)) PREPARED BY DC MAGNETRON SPUTTERING
A. Brighet1,3, H. Y. Seba2,3, M. Kechouane3
1National Higher School of Advanced Technologies,
Lycée Emir Abdelkader BP 474 – Place des Martyrs, Algiers, Algeria
2Green Hydrogen, Applied Renewable Energies and Electrical Engineering Systems Laboratory « GHARES-Lab », Faculté des sciences et de technologie, Université de Ghardaia Noumirat BP 455, route de Ouargla, 47000, Ghardaia, Algeria
3Laboratoire de Physique des Matériaux équipe “Couches Minces et Semi-conducteurs”, Faculté de physique USTHB, BP. 32 EL ALIA, 16111, Bab Ezzouar, Algiers, Algeria
Abstract: In this work, we investigated the optical, structural, and electrical properties of aluminum-doped hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide thin films (a-SiC:H(Al)). The samples were prepared by DC magnetron sputtering with a silicon carbide (6H-SiC) target, where the plasma was generated from a gas mixture of argon and hydrogen. Doping was carried out in situ by co-sputtering aluminum strands symmetrically placed on the target. By varying the number of strands, different samples were obtained.The samples were characterized by optical transmission, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and electrical measurements (I–T). The incorporation of aluminum atoms into the a-SiC:H matrix affects the optical properties of the films, leading to a decrease in the optical band gap from 2.3 to 1.7 eV. In addition, good agreement was observed between the optical and structural parameters obtained from the different techniques.Electrical measurements clearly reveal that the doping effect enhances the electrical conductivity of doped samples, increasing from 6×10⁻¹¹ to 10⁻⁷ Ω⁻¹·cm⁻¹ compared to the conductivity of undoped samples.
Keywords: Amorphous silicon carbide; DC magnetron sputtering; Al doping; hetejojunction.
VOLUME 10 ISSUE 04 2026: 65 – 73