Although much effort has been expended toward developing alternate dielectrics for use in fabricating ULSI circuits, there is still a need for high quality SiO2 films. In particular, process temperature restrictions have increased the demand for high quality, low temperature SiO2 films.[1] Such films have multiple applications in microelectronics, including use as passivation coatings, interlevel dielectrics, gate dielectrics in metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs), thin film transistors, and in devices using dual spacers.[2] Advanced devices at the 65-nm node and beyond are typically fabricated with nickel silicided electrodes—which enable lower junction silicon consumption, lower sheet resistance, and reduced agglomeration, but require subsequent process temperatures to be below 550°C. Also, to prevent movement of the ultra shallow junctions (USJs) during a subsequent thermal cycle, the temperatures for process steps after USJ formation must be kept below 600°C. To meet these needs, we have developed a low temperature (<500°C) SiO2 process that results in excellent dielectric quality.

This paper presents results on high-quality chemical vapor deposition (CVD) SiO2 films deposited at temperatures from 200°C to 450°C using a novel proprietary and versatile silicon precursor using oxygen as the oxidizer. Composition, film stress, deposition rate, leakage current density, and step coverage results are presented.