IUVSTA 15th International Vacuum Congress (IVC-15), AVS 48th International Symposium (AVS-48), 11th International Conference on Solid Surfaces (ICSS-11)
    Plasma Science Monday Sessions
       Session PS1-MoA

Paper PS1-MoA4
Gas-Phase Chemistry of SiN PECVD Process at Ambient Pressure

Monday, October 29, 2001, 3:00 pm, Room 103

Session: Plasma-Surface Interactions I
Presenter: G.R. Nowling, University of California, Los Angeles
Authors: G.R. Nowling, University of California, Los Angeles
S.E. Babayan, University of California, Los Angeles
X. Yang, University of California, Los Angeles
M. Moravej, University of California, Los Angeles
R.F. Hicks, University of California, Los Angeles
Correspondent: Click to Email
The plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) of silicon nitride films has been examined in an atmospheric-pressure, helium-nitrogen discharge. The concentrations of the active nitrogen species in the afterglow have been determined by optical emission and absorption spectroscopy. For operation with 752 Torr N2 and 8 Torr He, at 32.9 (W/cm^3) RF power, and a 40.4 L/min flow rate, the plasma produced 4.8x10^15 cm^-3 of N, 2.1x10^13 cm^-3 of N2(A), 1.2x10^12 cm^-3 of N2(B), and 3.2x10^9 cm^-3 of N2(C). As the gas enters the afterglow, the concentrations of the active molecular nitrogen species drop by at least two orders of magnitude. However, the ground-state atomic nitrogen atoms remain at a high concentration due to their slow rate of recombination by three-body collision. Spectroscopic measurements made of the gas and surface during PECVD indicate that the dominant reaction pathway is heterogeneous, i.e., occurs on the surface of the silicon nitride film. A numerical simulation has been developed which models the coupled fluid dynamics, gas-phase kinetics and surface reaction kinetics. These results together with the experimental measurements will be presented at the meeting.