REMOTE PLASMA-ENHANCED CVD OF SILICON-NITRIDE FILMS - EFFECTS OF DILUTING NITROGEN WITH ARGON - PART I - EFFECT ON NITROGEN PLASMA PARAMETERS STUDIED BY EMISSION-SPECTROSCOPY

In a series of two papers we describe the effect of argon dilution of the nitrogen passed through the RF discharge region on the plasma comp osition, growth rate and some characteristics of silicon nitride films deposited by remove PECVD, In this part we report the results of an e mission spectroscopic study of the plasma obtained in an SiH4-N-2-Ar m ixture, It is shown that argon in metastable electronic excited states plays an important role during the RPECVD of silicon nitride films by providing a high concentration of atomic nitrogen which is necessary for the promotion of film growth, In Part II the influence of argon di lution on the growth rate, composition and some properties of silicon nitride films deposited by capacitively and inductively coupled remote PECVD is discussed. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.