Improvement of Gap-Filling Property of O₃-tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) Film by Ethanol Surface Treatment

Abstract

A new surface treatment involving spin coating of ethanol on substrate prior to O 3 -tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) deposition by atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (APCVD) was found to be very effective for improvement of gap-filling properties and film quality. Deposited film has a “flowlike” surface shape similar to that of spin-on-glass (SOG) film, and can be used to fill trenches of 0.3 µm width and 1.2 µm height (aspect ratio of 4) which could not be filled by a conventional O 3 -TEOS APCVD. Effects of the surface treatment by some other organic solvents are also reported and a possible mechanism is presented.