Carlos Eduardo Viana Ana Neilde R. da Silva, Nilton Itiro Morimoto, LSI-DMI-EPUSP.
Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD) is one of the most important process used by its suitable characteristics such as good step coverage, low deposition temperature, high deposition rate, etc..
The substrate, in single wafer PECVD reactors, is in direct contact with the plasma, thus the sample is in constant ions, electrons and photons bombardment. Ions bombardment on silicon oxide films during the deposition process results in poor electronic properties. However, the ions bombardment also activates the surface sites which promotes the film growth and densifies the film. In rf diode discharges, where the ion energy can exceed hundreds of eV, the substrate has higher probability to be damaged.
We observed that adding argon in the gas mixture in the PETEOS silicon oxide deposition process the quality of the film is drastically improved. In order to understand the physical and chemical mechanisms of the influence of the argon in the deposition process, we are developing this work which the first results are present below.
The silicon oxide deposition process was carried out in the following basic conditions: process pressure (P) of 1 Torr; temperature (T) of 375°C; TEOS flow (FTEOS) of 7.0 sccm oxygen flow (FO2) of 450 sccm and RF power (Wrf) of 400 W.
We can conclude that adding an argon flow in the gas mixture in the PECVD silicon oxide deposition process cause a high influence in the deposition rate and uniformity of the deposited layer. However, the physical and chemical mechanisms is not well understood.
XIX CONGRESSO BRASILEIRO DE APLICAÇÕES DE VÁCUO NA INDÚSTRIA E NA CIÊNCIA - XIX CBRAVIC.
28 A 30 DE JULHO DE 1998 - LNLS - Campinas - SP.