Effect of oxygen to argon ratio on the properties of thin SiOx films deposited by r.f. sputtering

• Published in: Journal of materials science. Materials in electronics Vol. 21; no. 5; pp. 481 - 485
• Main Authors: Terrazas, J. M., Nedev, N., Manolov, E., Valdez, B., Nesheva, D., Curiel, M. A., Haasch, R., Petrov, I.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer US 2010; Springer
• Subjects: Annealing; Applied sciences; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Cold working, work hardening; annealing, quenching, tempering, recovery, and recrystallization; textures; Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Deposition by sputtering; Exact sciences and technology; Heat treatment; Lattice dynamics; Materials Science; Metals. Metallurgy; Methods of deposition of films and coatings; film growth and epitaxy; Optical and Electronic Materials; Phonon states and bands, normal modes, and phonon dispersion; Phonons and vibrations in crystal lattices; Physics; Production techniques; Treatment of materials and its effects on microstructure and properties; High Temperature Annealing; SiO2 Matrix; Partial Pressure Ratio; Silicon Oxide Film; Silicon Nanocrystals; High temperature; Leakage currents; Photoelectron spectroscopy; Electrical testing; Thin films; Cathode sputtering; Microelectronic fabrication; Silicon; Test equipment; Argon; Electrical characteristic; Photoelectron spectra; Defect density; Oxygen; Annealing; Electrical properties; MOS structure; Dispersive spectrometry; Precipitates; Interfaces; Partial pressure; Silicon oxides; C band; Vibrational modes; Fourier transform spectra; Sputter deposition; X-ray photoelectron spectra
• ISSN: 0957-4522; 1573-482X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10854-009-9942-z

Energy Dispersive X-ray and X-ray Photoelectron (XPS) spectroscopies show that SiO x films deposited by reactive r.f. magnetron sputtering at partial pressure ratios R between oxygen and argon in a wide range (1–0.005) have compositions close to the stoichiometric one. For these films high temperature annealing at 1,000 °C shifts the band in the Fourier Transform-Infrared spectrum due to the Si–O–Si stretching vibration to values typical of stoichiometric SiO 2 . Further decrease of R leads to splitting of the Si 2p XPS line indicating increase of the Si content and formation of a second phase in a SiO 2 matrix. The electrical properties of test MOS structures with SiO x gate dielectric, regarding defect density in the oxide and at the SiO x /c-Si interface, degrade with the decrease of R. High temperature annealing at 1,000 °C strongly improves the properties of all films regarding leakage current and properties of the interface.