Silicon nitride thin films prepared by the electron cyclotron resonance plasma chemical vapor deposition method

Abstract

Silicon nitridethin films prepared by the electron cyclotron resonanceplasma chemical vapor deposition method at low substrate temperature (101 7 Ω⋅cm and >10 MV/cm, respectively. These properties of silicon nitridethin films are close to those of stoichiometric silicon nitride (Si3N4) prepared by the thermal chemical vapor deposition method at high temperature (>600 °C). The interface trap state density between the silicon nitridefilm and silicon substrate was 4×101 1 cm2/eV in the silicon band gap. An optical emission spectroscopy during the deposition indicated that the intensities of nitrogen molecular ions were much stronger than those of nitrogen molecules, and the silane was sufficiently decomposed into silicon and hydrogen atoms. It is considered that the excellent properties of the silicon nitridethin films are related to the existence of a large amount of nitrogen molecule ions.