A Novel Organosilicon Source for Low Temperature Plasma Deposition of Silicon Nitride‐like Thin Films

Abstract

AbstractSummary: This paper deals with the deposition of silicon nitride‐like films at low temperatures using radio frequency inductively coupled plasmas fed with bis(dimethylamino)dimethylsilane (BDMADMS) and argon (Ar). The effect of input power and BDMADMS‐to‐Ar ratio on the chemical composition of the deposited films has been investigated by means of Fourier transform infrared absorption spectroscopy (FT‐IRAS) and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis. The results indicate that at high input power and low monomer‐to‐Ar ratio, low carbon and high nitrogen content films, stable and with a refractive index of 1.87, can be obtained. Under the same experimental conditions, high carbon content silicon carbonitride coatings have been deposited from hexamethyldisilazane and Ar fed discharges.Normalized FT‐IR absorption spectra of films deposited in plasmas fed with BDMADMS‐Ar (ratio = 0.1) in comparison with the spectrum of a thermal SiNx film (HT‐SiN).magnified imageNormalized FT‐IR absorption spectra of films deposited in plasmas fed with BDMADMS‐Ar (ratio = 0.1) in comparison with the spectrum of a thermal SiNx film (HT‐SiN).