Deposition rates, effect

Figure 4. Effect of Inlet flow rates on Isotherms, flow streamlines and relative deposition rates of GaAs (a) 70 cc/sec (standard conditions) (b) 140 cc/sec (c) 210 cc/sec. The absolute growth rates scale as 1 (a) 2.6 (b) 3.1 (c).

Experiments of propane pyrolysis were carried out using a thin tubular CVD reactor as shown in Fig. 1 [4]. The inner diameter and heating length of the tube were 4.8 mm and 30 cm, respectively. Temperature was around 1000°C. Propane pressure was 0.1-6.7 kPa. Total pressure was 6.7 kPa. Helium was used as carrier gas. The product gas was analyzed by gas chromatography and the carbon deposition rate was calculated from the film thickness measured by electron microscopy. The effects of the residence time and the temperature... 

Pressure variation. In Figure 17 are shown the effects of total pressure on the relative pressures (i.e., the ratio of the partial pressure to the total pressure) of silane, hydrogen, and disilane (Fig. 17a) and on the deposition rate (Fig. 17b). The RF frequency is 50 MHz, and the plasma power is 5 W. The relative pressure of hydrogen slowly increases, and the relative pressure of silane slowly decreases, both in model as well as in experiment. This is caused by an increase in silane depletion at higher total pressures, which results from a higher power dissipation... 

The experimentally found linear increase of the deposition rate as a function of frequency is not seen in the modeling results that show saturation see Figure 18b. The linear increase has also been measured by others [119,120,249], up to an RF frequency of 100 MHz. Howling et al. [250] have measured this linear relationship, while taking special care that the effective power is independent of frequency. 

The discrepancy may also be caused by the approximations in the calculation of the EEDF. This EEDF is obtained by solving the two-term Boltzmann equation, assuming full relaxation during one RF period. When the RF frequency becomes comparable to the energy loss frequencies of the electrons, it is not correct to use the time-independent Boltzmann equation to calculate the EEDF [253]. The saturation of the growth rate in the model is not caused by the fact that the RF frequency approaches the momentum transfer frequency Ume [254]. That would lead to less effective power dissipation by the electrons at higher RF frequencies and thus to a smaller deposition rate at high frequencies than at lower frequencies. 

Modulation of the RF excitation has been used in an attempt to increase the deposition rate. Increasing the gas pressure or raising the power generally leads to dust formation and deterioration of material properties. To overcome this problem, one can pulse the plasma by modulating the RF signal in amplitude with a square wave (SQWM). Depending on the regime (a or y ), different effects are observed. 

FIG. 66. Effects of modulating the RF excitation frequency (a) deposition rate and average light intensity as a function of the modulation frequency, with the deposition rate at cw conditions indicated by the dotted line, (b) measured spectrally integrated emission and calculated production of SiH3 radicals as a function of time, at a modulation frequency of 50 kHz and a 509f duty cycle. [From A. C. W. Biebericher. J, Bezemer. W. F. van der Weg, and W. J. Goedheer, Appl. Phys. Lett. 76, 2002 (2000), 2000, American Institute of Physics, w ith permission.]... 

Madan et al. [515] have presented the effect of modulation on the properties of the material (dark conductivity and photoconductivity) and of solar cells. They also observe an increase in deposition rate as a function of modulation frequency (up to 100 kHz) at an excitation frequency of 13.56 MHz, in their PECVD system [159]. The optimum modulation frequency was 68 kHz, which they attribute to constraints in the matching networks. Increasing the deposition rate in cw operation of the plasma by increasing the RF power leads to worse material. Modulation with a frequency larger than 60 kHz results in improved material quality, for material deposited with equal deposition rates. This is also seen in the solar cell properties. The intrinsic a-Si H produced by RF modulation was included in standard p-i-n solar cells, without buffer or graded interface layers. For comparison, solar cells employing layers that were deposited under cw conditions were also made. At a low deposition rate of about 0.2 nm/s, the cw solar cell parameters... 

Effect of diluent on deposition rate of nickel at 50 torr total pressure. [Reprinted with permission from AlChE J., 13 (86), 1967.]... 

---