FORMATION OF HIGH-QUALITY NITRIDED SILICON DIOXIDE FILMS USING ELECTRON-CYCLOTRON-RESONANCE CHEMICAL-VAPOR-DEPOSITION WITH NITROUS-OXIDE AND SILANE

High-quality silicon dioxide films with nitrogen at the Si/SiO2 interf ace have been produced by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition us ing an electron-cyclotron resonance source with silane and nitrous oxi de. The nitride layer, which amounts to approximately one monolayer, i s produced by a plasma nitridation process that dominates over chemica l vapor deposition during the initial stages of growth. X-ray photoele ctron spectroscopy has been used to show that the nitrogen atoms are b onded to three silicon atoms and the N-O bond concentration is below t he detection limit. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy indicates that the films have excellent bulk properties. Interface state densiti es of 2 x 10(11) eV(-1) cm(-2) have been obtained by capacitance-volta ge analysis of aluminum capacitors. We discuss the prospects for reduc ing this level by optimizing the process.