Plasma‐Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition of Silicon Dioxide Using Tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS)

This paper presents a study on plasma‐assisted chemical vapor deposition of silicon dioxide films using tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS). It was found that when oxygen is utilized as an oxidant, the resulting film contained approximately 1 atom percent (a/o) of nitrogen or carbon, whereas using in the reaction slightly increased the nitrogen concentration to 2 a/o. However, in the absence of oxidant, the carbon and nitrogen concentrations were approximately 18 and 6 a/o, respectively. The step coverage of the film, regardless of the oxidant, was approximately 34%, a substantial improvement compared to the 10% obtained for oxide films deposited using silane‐based chemistry. The refractive index, infrared spectrum, and film density appear characteristic of deposited films. The electrical characterization of the films yielded a breakdown electric field greater than 6.6 MV/cm, and a leakage current density of at 1 MV/cm. The breakdown electric field and leakage current density of a thermally grown oxide with comparable thickness are 8 MV/cm and , respectively.