Abstract
In this study, silicon oxide (SiO2) films were deposited by remote plasma atomic layer deposition with Bis(diethylamino)silane (BDEAS) and an oxygen/argon mixture as the precursors. Oxygen plasma powers play a key role in the quality of SiO2 films. Post-annealing was performed in the air at different temperatures for 1 h. The effects of oxygen plasma powers from 1000 W to 3000 W on the properties of the SiO2 thin films were investigated. The experimental results demonstrated that the SiO2 thin film growth per cycle was greatly affected by the O2 plasma power. Atomic force microscope (AFM) and conductive AFM tests show that the surface of the SiO2 thin films, with different O2 plasma powers, is relatively smooth and the films all present favorable insulation properties. The water contact angle (WCA) of the SiO2 thin film deposited at the power of 1500 W is higher than that of other WCAs of SiO2 films deposited at other plasma powers, indicating that it is less hydrophilic. This phenomenon is more likely to be associated with a smaller bonding energy, which is consistent with the result obtained by Fourier transformation infrared spectroscopy. In addition, the influence of post-annealing temperature on the quality of the SiO2 thin films was also investigated. As the annealing temperature increases, the SiO2 thin film becomes denser, leading to a higher refractive index and a lower etch rate.
Highlights
The thickness and refractive index of the SiO2 thin films deposited on the silicon wafers were measured by a spectroscopic ellipsometer (SENTECH SE 800 DUV, Berlin, Germany) using an air roughness model, which consisted of an “air, SiO2, silicon” threelayer structure
The optical emission spectrometer (OES) method has proven to be useful as a tool for the monitoring of film deposition by PECVD [23]
SiO2 thin films were prepared by remote plasma atomic layer deposition
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. SiO2 films can be prepared by many methods, such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD) [2,3,4], thermal oxidation [5,6,7], and atomic layer deposition (ALD) [8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15]. Remote plasma atomic layer deposition (RP-ALD) is a widely used mode. The RP-ALD possesses the high reactivity of many plasma species; it can reduce the deposition temperatures without degrading the prepared film quality. Systematic investigations on the oxygen plasma power for the property of SiO2 films are rare. The variation of the oxygen plasma power on the effects of the electrical, optical, chemical, structural, and morphological properties of the films was investigated. The relationship between the property changes of the SiO2 thin films and the variation in the annealing temperature is discussed
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