Magnetically Excited Plasma Oxynitridation of Si at Room Temperature

Abstract

Good electrical quality Si oxynitride was successfully grown at room temperature using magnetically excited ( N 2 + Ar) plasma. Si oxynitride, probably Si\SubtN\SubtO, was grown only when Ar was mixed with N 2 , while SiO\Subt was solely formed with N 2 only. At the top surface of the grown film with mixed gas, SiO\Subt was always grown due to residual oxygen in N 2 gas, so that the SiO\Subt/Si\Subt N 2 O structure was always obtained. Good capacitance-voltage characteristics were obtained although the growth rate was somewhat low. The ( N 2 + Ar) plasma treatment after deposition of Si\SubsN\Subf powder on Si was also discussed.