The effects of hydrogen on the bonding properties of SiC/Cu interface via first-principles calculations

Ceramic/metal interfaces own great importance of technology, but the weak interface bond limits their applications. In this work, the effects of doping H element on the stability and bonding properties of SiC/Cu interface are studied by first principles calculations. In order to study the stability of interface, the potential surfaces were firstly studied for the C and Si terminated SiC/Cu interfaces. The C terminated interface is more stable than the Si terminated interface, which contributes the largest work of adhesion of 3.998 J/m2. The effects of hydrogen on the interface bonding properties were further studied. The occupation properties of hydrogen atoms were then studied, the hydrogen tends to occupy the octahedral position with negative formation energy. To reveal the bonding strength of SiC/Cu interface, the tensile simulations were carried out. The hydrogen owns obvious effects on the tensile strength depends on its occupation site. The movement and diffusion properties of hydrogen atoms in the interface zone were studied combining molecular dynamics and climbing image nudged elastic band method. Finally, the bonding mechanisms were analyzed by combining charge density, state density, differential charge and bader charge. Based on the above calculation results, it is found that for SiC(001)/Cu(111) interface, the H element generally has a negative impact on the bonding properties of SiC/Cu interface.