Novel way of characterizing fracture toughness of ultra-low temperature SiN films by nanoindentation

Abstract

This paper which is based on a project between Applied Materials and the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE) describes a novel methodology to characterize the fracture toughness of silicon nitride (SiN) thin films deposited at ultra-low temperatures of 100–180°C by the Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapour Deposition (PECVD) method. SiN thin films were deposited under varying conditions (thickness, deposition temperature and plasma power) on silicon substrates using Applied Materials' PRODUCER® Avila™ PECVD chamber, and characterized using the nanoindentation method for fracture toughness values. The nanoindentation method was optimized for the ultra-low temperature PECVD SiN films, which produced consistent results that enabled better understanding of the mechanical properties of ultra-low temperature SiN films.