Deposition of SiNx thin films by atmospheric pressure glow discharge plasmas.

Abstract

SiNx thin films have been deposited by using glow discharge with He/SiCl4/N2/H2 and He/SiCl4/NH3 gas systems under atmospheric pressure. With the He/SiCl4/N2/H2 system, the SiNx films were obtained at 40°C which have as good quality as the that of those obtained in low pressure glow discharge. In the case of He/SiCl4/NH3 gas system, we got films of the same quality with lower temperature about 25°C in that of the He/SiCl4/N2/H2 system. Because NH3 (N-H bonds) has the lower bond strength than N2(N-N bond) and H2(H-H bond), NH3 is easily dissociated to make NH and H radicals in plasma and easily abstracts the Cl atoms 2 from SiCl4. That is the reason why attained the lower temperature deposition could be in the containing NH3 gas system.