**4. Conclusions**

The influence of an AlN intermediate layer on the structural and chemical properties of HiPIMS SiC films grown on Si substrates was investigated using RBS, Raman spectroscopy, and GIXRD. The effect of the applied power (200 W and 400 W) was also considered. It was observed that the HiPIMS of SiC films can exhibit a complex growth mechanism and, depending on the process parameters, leads to the formation of films with an inhomogeneous composition throughout the depth of the Si substrate and a homogeneous composition for the AlN/Si substrate. This was verified by GIXRD using three different incidence angles (1.0◦, 1.5◦, and 2.0◦) which, besides confirming the RBS results, also evidenced the variation of crystallinity with the depth of the film. Raman spectroscopy analysis indicated the presence of Si–C bonds and that the C–C bond region was separated into two peaks (D and G bands), but with a low definition of the disorder band. In summary, the results demonstrated that the HiPIMS technique and the use of an AlN intermediate layer allowed for the deposition of crystalline SiC films of good quality, without the need for substrate heating, with approximately 1.5 μm (at 400 W) in only 60 min, i.e., at a deposition rate of 25 nm/min. The good chemical and physical properties of the HiPIMS SiC films deposited on AlN/Si substrates highlights their potential benefits in nanotechnological applications. Indeed, we recently proposed the thermal decomposition of SiC thin films using a CO2 laser beam without a vacuum chamber for graphene synthesis. The use of an AlN layer proved to be important because it reduces the thermal stress between SiC and Si materials [44]. Other applications will be the subject of further work.

**Author Contributions:** N.G., M.G., T.C., K.G., R.P., and J.C. conducted the investigation and methodology, N.G., K.G., M.F., B.R., R.P., M.D., and H.M. participated in the writing of the original draft.

**Funding:** The following funding sources including the Brazilian agency program FAPESP/MCT/CNPq-PRONEX (grant No. 11/50773-0), MCTI/CNPq/Universal (grants No. 459688/2014-6, 437921/2018-2, and 421317/2018-3), FAPESP (grant No. 18/01265-1 and 14/18139-8), CAPES/ITA (process No. 23038.005802/2014-98), CAPES/PVE (process No. 88881.064970/2014-01 and BEX9796/12-6), PNPD-CAPES, and CNPq (grants No. 305496/2012-3 and 446545/2014-7) are gratefully acknowledged for their support.

**Acknowledgments:** We would like to thank LAS-INPE for the Raman spectroscopy and GIXRD measurements, and LAMFI-USP for the RBS measurements. The authors also thank Dr Julio César Sagas from UDESC-Santa Catarina/Brazil for discussions and operation of the HiPIMS reactor.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
