GROWTH OF SIO2 AT ROOM-TEMPERATURE WITH THE USE OF CATALYZED SEQUENTIAL HALF-REACTIONS

Films of silicon dioxide (SiO2) were deposited at room temperature by means of catalyzed binary reaction sequence chemistry. The binary reac tion SiCl4 + 2H(2)O --> SiO2 + 4HCl was separated into SiCl4 and H2O h alf-reactions, and the half-reactions were then performed in an ABAB . .. sequence and catalyzed with pyridine. The pyridine catalyst lowered the deposition temperature from >600 to 300 kelvin and reduced the re actant flux required for complete reactions from similar to 10(9) to s imilar to 10(4) Langmuirs. Growth rates of similar to 2.1 angstroms pe r AB reaction cycle were obtained at room temperature for reactant pre ssures of 15 millitorr and 60-second exposure times with 200 millitorr of pyridine. This catalytic technique may be general and should facil itate the chemical vapor deposition of other oxide and nitride materia ls.