Silicon Nitride For Gallium Arsenide Integrated Circuits

Abstract

Gallium Arsenide, unlike silicon does not have a natural oxide with the dielectric and interface qualities of SiO2. As a consequence alternative techniques have to be developed for device and IC processing applications. Plasma deposited silicon nitride films are currently being investigated in many laboratories. This paper will deal with the characterization of such films deposited under a range of gas and plasma deposition conditions. The techniques of Infra Red Spectroscopy and Rutherford backscattering have been used for characterization of both "as deposited layers" and layers which have been annealed up to temperatures of 800°C, after deposition. The use of RBS for silicon nitride on GaAs is limited since the relatively small nitride spectrum is superimposed on much larger GaAs spectrum. The problem can be removed by placing carbon test substrates alongside the GaAs wafers. This separates the silicon and nitrogen spectra from the substrate enabling enhanced accuracy to be obtained. In this paper the range of results obtained will be discussed in the context of the deposition condition in order to identify the optimum conditions for obtaining a stoichiometric compound and a high quality interface.