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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
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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

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References

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