Measurement of silicon suboxide films thickness synthesized by the gas-jet electron beam plasma chemical vapor deposition method

Abstract

The amorphous silicon suboxide thin films were synthesized by the gas-jet electron beam plasma chemical vapor deposition method. The thickness of the thin films was obtained using a cross-section SEM image (destructive) and an analysis of interference effects in the IR transmission spectra (non-destructive). The film thicknesses obtained by the cross-section SEM images were about 600 nm for all samples. An approximation of the silicon suboxide film thickness was made using a Gaussian distribution, which showed good agreement with the experimental values. The thickness obtained from the analysis of the IR transmission spectra increases from 400 nm to 500 nm with increasing Gmix. It was found that the oxygen concentration of the thin films decreases from 45 to 22% with an increase in Gmix.