Plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition of thin crystalline semiconductor and conductor films

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Abstract
Plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) is a technique widely accepted in microelectronics for the deposition of amorphous dielectric films such as silicon nitride and silicon oxide. The main advantage of PECVD stems from the introduction of plasma energy to the CVD environment which makes it possible to promote chemical reactions at relatively low temperatures. A natural extension of this is to use this plasma energy to lower the temperature required to obtain a crystalline deposit. This paper discusses the application of PECVD for the deposition of monocrystalline (epitaxy) and polycrystalline silicon, and of refractory metals and their silicides. It is emphasized that the PECVD technique can be used to deposit these semiconductor and conductor films at relatively low temperatures.