PLASMA DEPOSITION OF INORGANIC SILICON CONTAINING FILMS

Amorphous films containing silicon in combination with nitrogen, oxygen, carbon and hydrogen, comprise a wide range of potentially useful materials for the construction of microelectronic circuits. Glow discharge induced deposition is a viable alternative to the other more common chemical and physical deposition methods. Silane (SiH4) reacted with different ratios of nitriding or oxidizing agents in a glow discharge produce films of varying composition and properties. At low discharge power film density is primarily a function of surface temperature. Nitride films grown at low temperature and low power density contain substantial amounts of Si-H and N-H bonds, some of which can be removed by high temperature annealing. Many film properties can be measured. Correlation of some of these with annealing provides a simple model for assigning a figure of merit to material. © 1979 AIME.