Silicon nitride

About: Silicon nitride is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 32678 publications have been published within this topic receiving 413599 citations. The topic is also known as: N₄Si₃.

Modulating etch selectivity and etch rate of silicon nitride thin films

Abstract: Etching of nitride and oxide layers with reactant gases is modulated by etching in different process regimes. High etch selectivity to silicon nitride is achieved in an adsorption regime where the partial pressure of the etchant is lower than its vapor pressure. Low etch selectivity to silicon nitride is achieved in a condensation regime where the partial pressure of the etchant is higher than its vapor pressure. By controlling partial pressure of the etchant, very high etch selectivity to silicon nitride may be achieved.

Optical doping of waveguide materials by MeV Er implantation

Abstract: Implantation of MeV erbium ions into micron‐thick silica and phosphosilicate glass films and 1200‐A‐thick Si3N4 films is studied with the aim of incorporating the rare‐earth dopant on an optically active site in the network. Implantation energies and fluences range from 500 keV to 3.5 MeV and 3.8×1015 to 9.0×1016 ions/cm2. After proper thermal annealing, all implanted films show an intense and sharply peaked photoluminescence spectrum centered around λ = 1.54 μm. The fluorescence lifetime ranges from 6 to 15 ms for the silica‐based glasses, depending on annealing treatment and Er concentration. Silicon nitride films show lower lifetimes, in the range <0.2–7 ms. Annealing characteristics of all materials are interpreted in terms of annealing of ion‐induced network defects. These defects are identified using photoluminescence spectroscopy at 4.2 K. Concentration quenching, diffusion and precipitation behavior of Er is also studied.

Method of plasma etching of silicon carbide

Abstract: The invention provides a process for plasma etching silicon carbide with selectivity to an overlapping and/or underlying dielectric layer of material. The etching gas includes a hydrogen-containing fluorocarbon gas such as CH 3 F, an oxygen-containing gas such as O 2 and an optional carrier gas such as Ar. The dielectric material can comprise silicon dioxide, silicon nitride, silicon oxynitride or various low-k dielectric materials including organic low-k materials. In order to achieve a desired selectivity to such dielectric materials, the plasma etch gas chemistry is selected to achieve a desired etch rate of the silicon carbide while etching the dielectric material at a slower rate. The process can be used to selectively etch a hydrogenated silicon carbide etch stop layer or silicon carbide substrates.

High efficiency visible electroluminescence from silicon nanocrystals embedded in silicon nitride using a transparent doping layer

Abstract: We have fabricated light-emitting diodes with a transparent doping layer on silicon nanocrystals (nc-Si) embeded in silicon nitride matrix formed by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. Under forward biased condition, orange electroluminescence (EL) with its peak wavelength at about 600 nm was observed at room temperature. The peak position of the EL is very similar to that of the photoluminescence (PL) and the emitted EL intensity is proportional to the current density passing through the device. We suggest that the observed EL is originated from electron-hole pair recombination in nc-Si. By using indium tin oxide and n-type SiC layer combination as a transparent doping layer, we obtained high external quantum efficiency greater than 1.6%.

Thermodynamics and kinetics of oxidation of hot-pressed silicon nitride

Abstract: The “passive” oxidation behaviour of silicon nitride hot-pressed with 1 wt% MgO has been studied in dry oxygen in the temperature range 1000 to 1400‡ C. The oxidation follows the classical parabolic behaviour with an apparent activation energy of 375 kJ mol−1. Except for minor amounts of a glass and cristobalite, the oxide film consists predominantly of MgSiO3 in which various impurity elements, e.g. Ca, Fe, Al, etc., concentrate. The outward diffusion of Mg2+ and impurity cations from the grainboundary glass phase through the oxide film appears to be oxidation rate controlling.