Deposition of Fluorinated Silicon Nitride using Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition Technique

Abstract

ABSTRACTHigh hydrogen content of ammonia/silane deposited silicon nitride films has been linked to instability in electronic devices such as MOSFET's MNOSFET's and TFT's. Fluorine has been proposed to help reduce the hydrogen content of these films. In this work, NF3 was used as a fluorinating agent. Optical and electrical properties were studied as a function of NF3 flow rate. A maximum optical gap of 5.3 eV was obtained with NF3 as compared to 3.2 eV without. The dielectric strength improved from 4 to 10 MV/cm with the addition of NF3. FTIR data show that the Si-N peak shifts to higher wave numbers and the Si-H peak drops below the detection limit with the addition of NF3. Also, the broad Si-N peak at 850 cm-1 is composed of many individual peaks which become discernable when a stainless steel screen is placed in front of the substrate. As the NF3 concentration is increased, a new peak at 1030–1060 cm-1 appears. This may be associated with a N-F vibration (1030 cm-1).