REMOTE PLASMA SIO2 DEPOSITION BY TETRAETHOXYSILANE WITH CHEMICALLY AND ENERGETICALLY DIFFERENT ATOMIC SPECIES

Thin films of SiO2 are deposited using tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) as the source gas in remote rf(13.56 MHz) and microwave plasmas. Depositions were carried out using atomic and molecular radicals of different reactivities generated in O-2, N-2, H-2, Ar and He plasmas. SiO2 films could be fabricated only in the downstreams of O-2, N-2 and Ar plasmas with the reaction of TEOS. SiO2 was not produced by TEOS with the reaction of downstream of H-2 or He plasma. SiO2 deposited with Ar plasma contains a small amount of C. The activation energy of film growth rate varies depending on the partially decomposed TEOS precursor density. Furthermore, the quality of SiO2 films deposited with energetically different ground-state (O(P-3)) and excited-state (O(D-1)) atomic oxygen environments was comparatively studied. Films deposited in an excess O(D-1) environment show better physical and electrical properties, though the yield of SiO2 is independent of the state of the atom.