Abstract
The temperature (TE) above which optimal growth takes place during plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition of undoped hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide alloys from methane/silane gas mixtures is shown to increase with the relative gas-phase mole fraction of methane XCH4. The increase in TE from ≊220 °C for XCH4=0.0 to ≊350 °C for XCH4=0.90 at 2 W rf power is attributed to a corresponding decrease in the rate of hydrogen diffusion with carbon incorporation.