Glow discharge deposition of silicon dioxide and aluminum oxide films: A kinetic model of the surface processes

Abstract

Silicon oxide films have been deposited in a RF discharge plasma using hexamethyl-disiloxane (HMDSO) and Ar/O2 or N2O. Also, aluminum oxide layers have been deposited using trimethylaluminum (TMA) and N2O or CO2. The influence of the nature and the proportion q( the oxidizing gases and file suhstrate temperature effect have been studied. As far as the films obtained with HMDSO and TMA tire concerned, the most important experimental finding is the decrease of the deposition rate with increasing substrate temperature. FTIR, ESCA, and refractive index measurements show that the decrease of the deposition rate correlates with a nearly stoichiometric film. Low negative apparent activation energies are deduced from Arrhenius plots and are representative of deposition rates controlled hr fire adsorption of radical and surface di fusivities. A kinetic rnodel shows that the rate-limiting step is the adsorption of HMDSO or TMA radicals at low temperatures while for temperatures above 250°C the oxidation reactions control the deposition rate.