S. Garcia et al., INFLUENCE OF THE DEPOSITION PARAMETERS ON THE BONDING AND OPTICAL-PROPERTIES OF SINX ECR FILMS, Journal of non-crystalline solids, 187, 1995, pp. 329-333
SiNx films are deposited at room temperature using an electron cyclotr
on resonance plasma system for different N-2/SiH4 gases flow ratios (1
.6-9) and microwave powers (50-200 W). The optical and bonding propert
ies of the films and their N/Si ratio are studied as a function of the
deposition parameters. Two operation modes of the ECR source, that we
call mode A and mode B, resulting in films with similar properties ar
e found. In fact, the films deposited at low powers (50-100 W) and hig
h N-2/SiH4 ratios (7.5-9) (mode A) have similar characteristics to tho
se deposited at high powers (150-200 W) and low N-2/SiH4 ratios (1.6-3
). Near stoichiometric SiNx films are obtained in both modes, at 50 W
and N-2/SiH4 ratio = 9 or at 150 W and N-2/SiH4 ratio = 1.6. A thresho
ld in the microwave power (15 W) for the effective formation of the Si
Nx films is found. The two operation modes and the threshold are expla
ined as a function of the strong dependence of the ion current density
on the microwave power.