Nucleation of chemical vapor deposited silicon nitride on silicon dioxide

We have studied the early stages of silicon nitride chemical vapor depositi on (CVD) on silicon dioxide using medium energy ion scattering. The growth mode consists of island nucleation followed by coalescence. Similar behavio r is observed for films grown using different precursors and reactor enviro nments, indicating that the growth mode is caused by the fundamental nonwet ting nature of the nitride/oxide interface under the conditions used for CV D. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(99)01013-X].