AVS 47th International Symposium
    Surface Engineering Tuesday Sessions
       Session SE-TuA

Paper SE-TuA6
Large-area Nitrogen-doped SiO@sub 2@ Films Deposition in a Large-scale Integrated RF PSII/PVD System

Tuesday, October 3, 2000, 3:40 pm, Room 201

Session: Surface Engineering: Surface Preparation to Postcoating Surface Finishing
Presenter: L. Wu, College of William and Mary
Authors: L. Wu, College of William and Mary
D. Manos, College of William and Mary
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A large-scale integrated implantation/deposition system was used to deposit large-area, high quality nitrogen-doped SiO@sub 2@ films. With a 0.61 m I.D. chamber, 0.57 m I.D. quartz window, and 0.43 m I.D. RF antenna, the system is capable of large-area, uniform surface materials processing. The nitrogen-doped SiO@sub 2@ films were produced by simultaneous sputter deposition of SiO@sub 2@ and nitrogen ion implantation by the plasma. At an RF power of 750 watts, the deposition rate of SiO@sub 2@ over an approximately 20 inch area was 5-10 Å/min. The films were characterized by AES and SIMS depth profiling, and variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometry (VASE). The films were highly transparent, with refractive indexes around 1.5 throughout the visible spectrum and zero extinction coefficients. The films were stoichiometric SiO@sub 2@ with an implanted nitrogen concentration of around 10%. The level of nitrogen doping is easily controllable by adjusting the implant pulse frequency and pulse voltage. N-doped SiO@sub 2@ films have been deposited on Si, Ti, and stainless steel substrates with good adhesion and uniformity. The nitrogen implantation improved properties of the interface between the film and the substrates. This method shows promise for depositing SiO@sub 2@ at low temperature, on a variety of substrates, allowing a range of dopant combinations to produce variable dielectric constants. The low-temperature process preserves small feature dimensions when performed on a masked substrate. The process was modeled using MAGIC and Profile Code to compare to the measured lateral and depth profiles of various features.