AVS 45th International Symposium
    Electronic Materials and Processing Division Thursday Sessions
       Session EM1-ThA

Paper EM1-ThA4
Effect of Substrate Temperature in SiO@sub x@N@sub y@ Films Deposited By Electron Cyclotron Resonance

Thursday, November 5, 1998, 3:00 pm, Room 314/315

Session: Dielectrics
Presenter: A. del Prado, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain
Authors: A. del Prado, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain
F.L. Martinez, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain
M. Fernandez, Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales, Spain
I. Martil, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain
G. Gonzalez Diaz, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain
Correspondent: Click to Email
High quality silicon oxynitride films for ULSI applications can be deposited at low temperatures using plasma assisted processes like the ECR-CVD technique.@footnote 1,2@ Physical properties of SiO@sub x@N@sub y@ films have been studied. The films have been deposited from mixtures of SiH@sub 4@, O@sub 2@ and N@sub 2@, using the ECR-CVD technique, with substrate temperature ranging from room temperature to 200°C. FTIR spectroscopy, AES and ellipsometric measurementes have been performed in order to characterize the films. Low bonded hydrogen content is observed along the entire composition range from Si@sub 3@N@sub 4@ to SiO@sub 2@. N-H bonds are present in all the films, while Si-H bonds are detected only for those films deposited under high SiH@sub 4@ partial pressure. No O-H bonds are detected. When substrate temperature is increased, a slight decrease in total bonded H concentration is observed. A small shift (7-20 cm@super -1@) in the main FTIR absorption peak (Si-N/Si-O stretching band) is detected. This behavior is attributed to hydrogen release from N-H bonds due to the substitution of H for Si, with no signicant change in the film composition. FWHM of the main FTIR peak decreases as temperature is increased for all the composition range, indicating an improvement in the film quality, as this parameter is related to the structural order of the film. Silicon oxide films (SiO@sub 2.0@) deposited at 200°C show improved properties with respect to those deposited at room temperature. FWHM decreases from 96 cm@super -1@ to 88 cm@super -1@, and shoulder-to-peak ratio from 0.30 to 0.25. The position of the Si-O stretching band (1072 cm@super -1@) is unaffected. These values are very close to those obtained for thermally grown oxides,@footnote 2@ while the thermal budget of the process is reduced. @FootnoteText@ @footnote 1@S. V. Hattangady, H. Niimi, G. Lucovsky. J. Vac. Sci. Tech. A 14 (6) 3017 (1996) @footnote 2@D. Landheer, Y. Tao, J. E. Hulse, T. Quance, D. -X. Xu. J. Electrochem. Soc. 143 (5) 1681 (1996)