Highly stable silicon dioxide films deposited by means of rapid thermal low-pressure chemical vapor deposition onto InP

Abstract

An attempt was made to deposit a high thermally stable silicon dioxide (SiO2) film onto InP substrates. The films were grown by rapid thermal, low-pressure chemical vapor deposition (RT-LPCVD), using pure oxygen (O2) and 2% diluted silane (SiH4) in argon (Ar) gas sources, in the temperature range of 350–550 °C and pressure range of 3–10 Torr. The SiO2/InP structures were heated, post-deposition, up to 1000 °C for durations of up to 5 min, resulting in negligible changes in the properties of the SiO2 films and a limited SiO2/InP interfacial reaction of about 15 nm thick. The higher the initial deposition temperature of the SiO2 the larger was the film compressive stress and the less the degree of densification the film underwent through the post-deposition heating cycles.