In:
MRS Proceedings, Springer Science and Business Media LLC, Vol. 817 ( 2004)
Abstract:
SiON thin films were deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition method at 350 °C using N 2 O/SiH 4 gas mixtures as precursors. As-deposited SiON films were annealed in different gas atmospheres (air, N 2 , and O 2 ) and at different annealing temperatures (800 o C ∼ 1100 o C). Effects of annealing atmosphere on the Si-O, Si-N, Si-H, and N-H bonding characteristics in SiON films and their structural and optical properties have been investigated. Cross-sectional and planar microstructures were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy, and crystallinity was investigated by X-ray diffraction. Chemical bonding characteristics and optical properties SiON films were studied using fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and prism coupler. Xray diffractions showed no evidence of any crystals in all SiON films. The deposition rate strongly depended on the processing parameters such as radio frequency (rf) power, N 2 O/SiH 4 flow ratio, and SiH 4 flow rate. Deposition rate increased as N 2 O/SiH 4 flow ratio increased and SiH 4 flow rate increased. It was possible to obtain SiON films with surface roughness of about 1 nm and a high deposition rate of about 4 μm/h when the processing parameters were optimized as rf power of 200 W, N 2 O/SiH 4 flow ratio of 3, SiH 4 flow rate of 100 sccm. It was observed that the intensity and the shift of the Si-O stretch and Si-N peaks depended on the annealing atmosphere as well as the annealing temperature. The intensity of Si-O peaks increased in the samples annealed in oxygen atmosphere, but it decreased in the samples annealed in nitrogen atmosphere. The intensity of Si-N peak decreased in the samples annealed in oxygen atmosphere, but it increased in the samples annealed in nitrogen atmosphere. The position of Si-O peaks shifted from 1030 nm to 1140 nm in the samples annealed both in oxygen and in nitrogen atmosphere. It was also observed that the intensities of Si-H (∼2250 cm −1 ) and N-H (∼3550 cm −1 ) peaks decreased apparently as the annealing temperature increased in all annealed samples.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
0272-9172
,
1946-4274
DOI:
10.1557/PROC-817-L6.13
Language:
English
Publisher:
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Publication Date:
2004
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