Kinetic model of thin film growth by vapor deposition

Abstract

A phenomenological kinetic model is proposed for describing the production of a thin film containing two components, A and B, by chemical and physical vapor deposition. The film was created by the “site-to-site” deposition of components A and B. The equations for the densities of components A and B in the surface layers were formed, and analytical and numerical solutions were obtained. The model includes the probabilities of different elementary processes for the interaction of gas phase components (molecules, radicals, atoms and ions) with those of A and B on the film surface. The deposition and erosion rates, the surface and volume densities of components A and B and the relative volume of micro-cavities inside the film were calculated as a function of the probabilities for the elementary processes of gas (plasma)-surface interactions. The experimental characteristics of a-Si: H thin films prepared by SiH4 plasma deposition and those of carbon nitride thin films deposited from r.f. — magnetron sputtering and ion beam-assisted processes are compared with model calculations.