Silicon oxynitride films

Addition of nitric oxide, NO, to the plasma during Si02 deposition gives silicon oxynitride films. 

Vamvakas VE, Beijoan R, Schamm S, Davazoglou D, Vahlas C (2001) Low pressure chemical vapor deposition of silicon oxynitride films using tetraethylorthosilicate, dechlorosilane and ammonia mixtures. J de Physique IV, 11, Pr3-231-238... 

Walker et al. (2000) used (d, p) and (d, a) nuclear reactions for quantitative analysis of silicon oxynitride films on silicon. They found that under optimum... 

Mulcahy, C., Bock, B., Ebblewhite, P, Hebert, H., Biswas, S. (2006) Ultra low energy SIMS depth profiling of sub-1.5 nm silicon oxynitride films. Applied Surface Science, 252,7198-7200. 

RBS has also been used to characterize palladium and tin catalysts on polyetherimide surfaces [229], titanium nitride thin films [230], silicon oxynitride films [231], and silicon nitride films [232]. and to study the laser mixing of Cu-Au -Cu and Cu - W - Cu thin alloy films on Si3N4 substrates [233], and the annealing behavior of GaAs after implantation with selenium [234]. 

Dielectric Deposition Systems. The most common techniques used for dielectric deposition include chemical vapor deposition (CVD), sputtering, and spin-on films. In a CVD system thermal or plasma energy is used to decompose source molecules on the semiconductor surface (189). In plasma-enhanced CVD (PECVD), typical source gases include silane, SiH4, and nitrous oxide, N20, for deposition of silicon nitride. The most common CVD films used are silicon dioxide, silicon nitride, and silicon oxynitrides. 

Finally, we will consider PECVD silicon oxynitrides, and their unique characteristics. When oxygen is added to a PECVD nitride film, there are indications that it may improve its crack resistance as a final passivation layer.13 Also, there may be advantages in terms of its electrical characteristics as an interlayer dielectric. Therefore, the nature of films grown when N20 is added to a SiH4, NH3 and He gas mixture in a high frequency (13.56 MHz), cold-wall, parallel-plate reactor have been studied. 

Moreover, as seen from Fig. 7, the intensity of the absorption in this region increases markedly with treatment time (Fig. 7C and D). These results suggest that PP-HMCTS films previously pyrolysed in vacuum may be transformed, by controlled oxidative heat treatment, into new materials with a high content of silicon oxynitride Inorganic structure. 

The topics of subsequent sections are the different materials used for thin films, specifically, silicon oxide (Section 5.5.3), silicon nitride (Section 5.5.4), poly-silicon (Section 5.5.5), and other materials, such as metals and silicon oxynitride, as well as novel thin film materials that may appear in future sensor designs (Section 5.5.6). In these sections, we adhere to the following structure first, the basic deposition process is briefly described, followed by the common function of the layer in sensor design. Subsequently, we discuss in detail the important material properties. 

Silicon oxynitrides (SiOxNy) are thin films that are basically a mixture of silicon oxide and silicon nitride, produced in a CVD-process by adding nitrous oxide (N20) to the gases used for silicon nitride deposition. By changing the oxide-to-ni-tride ratio, the properties of these films can be modified towards improved thermal and moisture stability and lower stress compared to pure silicon oxide or silicon nitride thin films [32]. At low oxygen concentrations (0/(0+ N) <0.3), oxynitride layers have good diffusion barrier characteristics [33] and oxidation resistance. 

Silicon nitride has also been prepared from SiCl4/NH4 [159], SiBr4/NH3 [160], and, more recently, Si2CVNH3 [161]. Silicon oxynitride (SiON) is readily prepared by use of any of the precursors used for silicon nitride with the addition of either N2O or NO as an oxygen source [162, 163, 164]. The composition and properties of the SiO N films may be varied linearly from Si02-like to Si3N4-like by the variation of the reactant flow rates. 

The hard mask approach employs ultrathin resist films, typically < 100 nm, as the imaging layer, which are coated over inorganic hard mask substrates such as silicon oxynitride, silicon nitride, amorphous carbon, etc. 

Lanthanum oxide thin film was grown on Si substrates by the metall-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) method (400-650°C) [27]. Thin silicon oxynitride layer on the Si substrate functions well to suppress the interfacial reaction between lanthanum oxide and Si and results in the increase in the dielectric constant of deposited lanthanum oxide. The formed oxynitride layer is also effective in decreasing the leakage current. 

Numerical thermo-mechanical studies have been performed to improve the robustness of the membrane, addressing buckling and stress concentration (Puigcorb6 et al., 2003). Thermo-mechanical reliability depends on the design and materials used. In general, the membranes made of dielectric materials deposited at a higher temperature (e.g. low-pressure chemical vapor deposition - LPCVD) are more robust. The membrane is usually formed of a stress-compensated stack of thin films of silicon nitride, silicon oxynitride and/or silicon oxide. A heater embedded in between LPCVD low-stress silicon nitride thin films has proven to be robust (Demarne et al.,... 

Silicon oxynitride (SiO cN),) films exhibit properties that fall somewhere between those of Si02 and those of Si3N4 films and have diverse applications in microelectronics. The oxynitride layers can be obtained if nitrogen oxide (N2O) is involved in the reaction of silane with ammonia [108, 109, 117-119], when silicon nitride is deposited onto an oxidized silicon substrate (silicon dioxide nitrification is incomplete at 800°C [100, 107]), or upon addition of gaseous oxygen during the CVD of silicon nitride [64, 100, 104, 120]. 

The applicability of HI-ERDA is evident from the measurements by many other workers. The analysis of silicon oxynitride (SiOj,Ny H) films has been... 

Shin, R, Mikolajick,T. (2003) H, Na, and K ion sensing properties of sodinmand alnminnm coimplanted LPCVD silicon oxynitride thin films. Applied Surface Science,207, 351-358. 

In order to achieve fuUy dense silicon nitride monolithic bodies, it is necessary to employ either the hot pressing (HP) or hot isostatic pressing (HIP) of sihcon nitride powder, with the addition of metal oxides (for a previous review, see Maccagno, 1989). At temperatures above 1550°C, these additives form with contaminant silicon dioxide films present around individual silicon nitride grains a liquid silicon oxynitride phase in which the silicon nitride may be readily dissolved. 

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