Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T08:18:09.812Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

ECR Plasma Synthesis of Silicon Nitride Films ON GaAs and InSb

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 February 2011

J. C. Barbour ,
M. L. Lovejoy ,
C. I. H. Ashby ,
A. J. Howard ,
J. S. Custer  and
R. J. Shul
J. C. Barbour
Affiliation:
Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerquqe, NM 87185
M. L. Lovejoy
Affiliation:
Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerquqe, NM 87185
C. I. H. Ashby
Affiliation:
Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerquqe, NM 87185
A. J. Howard
Affiliation:
Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerquqe, NM 87185
J. S. Custer
Affiliation:
Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerquqe, NM 87185
R. J. Shul
Affiliation:
Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerquqe, NM 87185
Get access

Abstract

The growth of high-quality dielectric films from Electron Cyclotron Resonance (ECR) plasmas provides for low-temperature surface passivation of compound semiconductors. Silicon nitride (SiNx) films were grown at temperatures from 30°C to 250°C on GaAs substrates. The stress in the films was measured as a function of bias applied during growth (varied from 0 to 200 V), and as a function of sample annealing treatments. Composition profiles of the samples were measured using ion beam analysis. The GaAs photoluminescence (PL) signal after SiNx growth without an applied bias (ion energy = 30 eV) was twice as large as the PL signal from the cleaned GaAs substrate. The PL signal from samples biased at -50 and -100 V indicated that damage degraded the passivation quality, while atomic force microscopy of these samples showed a three fold increase in rms surface roughness relative to unbiased samples. The sample grown with a bias of-200 V showed the largest reduction in film stress but also the smallest PL signal.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 316: Symposium A – Materials Synthesis and Processing Using Ion Beams , 1993 , 899
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1 Wagner, J. F. and Wilmsen, C. W., in Physics and Chemistry of III-V Compound Semiconductor Interfaces, edited by Wilmsen, C. W. (Plenum Press, New York, 1985), pp. 168–184.Google Scholar
2 Barbour, J. C., Stein, H. J., and Outten, C. A., in Low Energy Ion Beam and Plasma Modification of Materials, edited by Harper, J. M. E., Miyake, K., McNeil, J. R., and Gorbatkin, S. M. (Mater. Res. Soc. Proc. 223, Pittsburgh, PA, 1991), p. 91.Google Scholar
3 Barbour, J. C., Casalnuovo, S. A., and Kurtz, S. R., in Amorphous Insulating Thin Films, edited by Kanicki, J., Warren, W. L., Devine, R. A. B., and Matsumura, M. (Mater. Res. Soc. Proc. 284, Pittsburgh, PA, 1993), p. 613.Google Scholar
4 EerNisse, E. P., J. Appl. Phys. 48, 3337 (1977).Google Scholar
5 Outten, C. A., Barbour, J. C., and Wampler, W. R., J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A, 9, 717 (1991).Google Scholar
6 Brenner, A. and Senderoff, S., J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) 42, 105 (1949).Google Scholar
7 Brantley, W. A., J. Appl. Phys. 44, 534 (1973).Google Scholar
8 Claassen, W. A. P., Valkenburg, W. G. J. N., Willemsen, M. F. C., and Wijgert, W. M. v. d., J. Electrochem. Soc. 132, 893 (1985).Google Scholar
9 Brice, D. K., Nucl. Instrum. and Methods B, 44, 302 (1990).Google Scholar
10 Barbour, J. C., Doyle, B. L. and Stein, H. J., Appl. Phys. Letts., submitted.Google Scholar