| AVS 65th International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Plasma Science and Technology Division | Tuesday Sessions |
| Session PS+PB+SE-TuA |
| Session: | Atmospheric Pressure Plasmas |
| Presenter: | SeungJae Baik, Hankyong National University, Republic of Korea |
| Authors: | S.J. Baik, Hankyong National University, Republic of Korea J. Jang, Hankyong National University, Republic of Korea H.-J. Oh, Yonsei University, Republic of Korea |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is appropriate for fast deposition with moderate film quality, but to form high quality materials such as epitaxial thin films, thermal processes at higher temperature are more favorable. High energy particles that are statistically produced in plasma processes are sources of film quality degradation. It has been previously reported that the plasma process at high working pressure, e.g., atmospheric pressure is feasible for epitaxial Si growth; where source gas species are highly diluted in inert gas. Employing a large dilution of source materials opens a new process regime in plasma-enhanced CVD: (1) low damage plasma processing (2) high deposition rate process with controlled powder generation (3) efficient usage of source materials.
We have performed Si thin film deposition processes with silane and hydrogen as source materials highly diluted in He or Ar gases under working pressure close to the atmospheric pressure (up to 700 torr). The new process regimes showing low damage plasma processing, high deposition rate with controlled powder generation, and efficient usage of source materials are experimentally demonstrated in various process conditions. In addition, the impurity incorporation into the film during deposition processes degrades the crytalline quality of the deposited Si thin films, which can be improved by employing plasma electrode pre-coating or pre-deposition cleaning process. Furthermore, the trade-off relation of plasma power and gas flow velocity revealed the process window of polycrystalline thin film deposition, and even epitaxial growth.
Atmospheric plasma-enhanced CVD tool is promising for fast deposition and low damage processing, and moreover, cheaper setup may also be viable via pre-deposition cleaning processes instead of utilizing expensive vacuum facilities.