Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T07:45:20.305Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Micromechanical Characterization of Dielectric Thin Films

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2011

James M. Grow
James M. Grow*
Affiliation:
New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ 07102.
Get access

Abstract

A nanoindenter has been used to obtain Young's modulus and hardness data for a variety of dielectric thin films including silicon carbide, boron nitride, silicon carbonitride, and silicon oxide. These films, were synthesized by low pressure and plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition, and had a thickness from 0.25 to a few microns. For the BN films, the modulus and hardness of the films decreased significantly as the deposition temperature increased while the reverse was true for the SiC films. In both cases, these changes were related to variations in the compositions of the deposits due to the onset of different reactions as the temperature is increased. Silicon carbonitride films oxidized slowly when synthesized at temperatures below 200º C and the Young's modulus of these films increased at higher deposition temperatures. For silicon dioxide, there was little change in the composition of the films over the deposition temperature range investigated (375–475º C), thus correspondingly, small variations in the micromechanical properties of the material. However, moisture and hydrogen removal caused by an anneal at 800º C resulted in an significant increase in the modulus and hardness of these films.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 308: Symposium M1 – Thin Films: Stresses and Mechanical Properties IV , 1993 , 601
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1993

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 Doerner, M. F. and Nix, W. D., J. Mater. Res., 1, 601 (1986).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2 Oliver, W. C. and Pharr, G. M., J. Mater. Res., 7, 1564 (1992)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3 Muehoff, L., Choyke, W.J., Bozak, M.J., and Yates, J.T. Jr., Appl. Phys. Lett., 60, 2842 (1986).Google Scholar
4 Bozso, F., Muehoff, L., Trenary, M., Choke, W. J., and Yates, J. T. Jr., Vac. Sci. Technol. 2, 1271 (1984).Google Scholar
5 Pliskin, W. A., in "Semiconductor Silicon", edited by Huff, H. R. and Burgess, R. R., The Electrochemical Society, Princeton, New Jersey, (1973), p 506.Google Scholar
6 Kobeda, E., Kellam, M., and Osburn, C. M., J. Electrochem. Soc., 138, 1846 (1991).Google Scholar