Processing of Thin Ceramic Films

Processing is always a key step in the development of a material or a device. Parameters such as the heat treatment temperature, the heating atmosphere, and the dwelling time greatly influence the microstructure and composition of the material. Moreover, thin films are more likely to be affected by the processing conditions than a monolithic body, so more care should be taken to avoid the presence of undesired impurities, such as oxygen. 

This work reports the development of a polymeric/sol-gel route for the deposition of silicon carbide and silicon oxycarbide thin films for applications such as heat-, corrosion-, and wear-resistant coatings, coatings on fibers for controlling the interaction with the matrix in ceramic matrix composites, or films in electronic and optoelectronic devices. This method, in which the pre-ceramic films are converted to a ceramic coating either by a conventional high temperature annealing or by ion irradiation, is alternative to conventional methods such as chemical or physical vapor deposition (CVD, PVD), molecular beam epitaxy, sputtering, plasma spray, or laser ablation, which are not always practical or cost efficient. 

6 Polymer to Ceramic Transformation Processing of Ceramic Bodies and Thin Films 

In this paper, only the results concerning SiOC films obtained from SR350 and SiC films obtained from PCS will be reported. 

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