Low-Temperature Formation of Silicon Nitride Film by Direct Nitridation Employing High-Density and Low-Energy Ion Bombardment

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
High-integrity silicon nitride films can be obtained at a temperature of 400°C using a newly developed high-density (>1012 cm-3) plasma characterized by low ion bombardment energies of below 7 eV. It was found for the first time that stoichiometric silicon nitride can be formed at a temperature of 400°C by precise control of nitrogen partial pressure to generate N2 + in plasma. The growth rate and the electrical properties of this silicon nitride are similar to those of thermally grown nitride. Moreover, hysteresis of the C–V curve attributed to charge traps in the silicon nitride film disappeared with the addition of hydrogen to Ar/N2 plasma, and the leakage current of the nitride film was decreased dramatically by irradiating in Ar/N2/H2 plasma after Ar/N2 plasma nitridation. These technologies are very promising for fabricating feature metal substrate silicon-on-insulator (SOI) devices and silicon nitride gate metal-insulator-semiconductor field effect transistors (MISFETs).

This publication has 5 references indexed in Scilit: