Effect of growth parameters on refractive index and film composition of plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition silico
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Effect of growth parameters on refractive index and film composition of plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition silicon oxynitride films S. Naskara,b, C. A. Bowera, L. N. Yadona, S.D. Wolterb, B.R. Stonera,b, and J.T. Glassb a MCNC-Research and Development Institute, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, U.S.A. b Department of Electrical Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC 27709, U.S.A. ABSTRACT The importance of silicon oxynitride (SiOxNy) for optoelectronic device applications is ever increasing owing to its tunable refractive index. In this research, the influence of deposition conditions on film properties, correlated with film composition and bonding, have been investigated. Thick SiOxNy films were deposited in a plasma enehanced chemical vapor deposition reactor using silane (SiH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) as precursor gases. To investigate the influence of deposition conditions on film properties, three different parameters were studied; gas flow ratio, RF plasma mixed frequency ratio and RF power. Several different SiOxNy films were deposited at varying conditions. The temperature and pressure were maintained at 350°C and 1 Torr during all the experimental runs. The films were characterized for refractive index, growth rate and residual stress. The refractive index and the thickness of the films were measured using a prism-coupling technique. For composition analysis, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy studies and elastic recoil detection analysis were undertaken. The materials analysis was used to determine the correlation between growth parameters and material chemistry. In addition, the correlation between material chemistry and refractive index was also investigated. . INTRODUCTION As the importance of photonics continues to increase, so does the need for a suitable material that can be utilized to fabricate active and passive optical devices. In the recent past, silicon oxynitride has gained significant popularity for these applications. The primary advantage of this material is the tunability of the refractive index that can be achieved by varying the ratio of the constituent atoms. In the past, researchers have grown this material with silane, nitrous oxide and ammonia precursors1,2, but recent studies3-6 have shown that this material can also be grown from only the former two. Although researchers have reported successful deposition of oxynitride films with desired properties, to date, the optical properties have been specifically optimized for certain compositions and growth conditions. Thus, there is a need for a thorough analysis of this material system to obtain a fundamental understanding of the correlation between growth conditions, composition and optical properties. In the present study, we have tried to correlate film composition with the optical properties and the growth conditions for silicon oxynitride films. We have used X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to measure the silicon, nitrogen and oxygen content of the film and elastic recoil detection (ERD) analysis for the hydr
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