Silicon oxide

About: Silicon oxide is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 22220 publications have been published within this topic receiving 260986 citations.

Characterization of low‐pressure chemical‐vapor‐deposited and thermally‐grown silicon nitride films

Abstract: Low‐pressure chemical vapor‐deposited (LPCVD) silicon nitride films on silicon have been characterized by means of Rutherford backscattering (RBS), Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) combined with ion sputtering, and spectroscopic ellipsometry. It appeared that all LPCVD samples in the examined thickness range of 50 –500 A had an oxygen‐containing layer equivalent to 15–20 A of SiO2 at the nitride‐silicon interface. This interfacial layer originates from the native silicon oxide present at the silicon substrate when the deposition of nitride is started. For comparison, oxide‐free silicon substrates were nitrided in ammonia at temperatures between 800–1160 °C. The thermal nitride films were found to be very thin, at the most 30 A, even after 5 h of nitridation. Both the LPCVD and thermal nitride films oxidize slightly when transferred into the ambient; a surface layer equivalent to 8 A of SiO2 was detected. Auger and RBS results agree very well for all nitride films investigated. It is shown that RBS can be...

Effect of Reaction Mechanism on Precursor Exposure Time in Atomic Layer Deposition of Silicon Oxide and Silicon Nitride

Abstract: Atomic layer deposition (ALD) of highly conformal, silicon-based dielectric thin films has become necessary because of the continuing decrease in feature size in microelectronic devices. The ALD of oxides and nitrides is usually thought to be mechanistically similar, but plasma-enhanced ALD of silicon nitride is found to be problematic, while that of silicon oxide is straightforward. To find why, the ALD of silicon nitride and silicon oxide dielectric films was studied by applying ab initio methods to theoretical models for proposed surface reaction mechanisms. The thermodynamic energies for the elimination of functional groups from different silicon precursors reacting with simple model molecules were calculated using density functional theory (DFT), explaining the lower reactivity of precursors toward the deposition of silicon nitride relative to silicon oxide seen in experiments, but not explaining the trends between precursors. Using more realistic cluster models of amine and hydroxyl covered surfaces, the structures and energies were calculated of reaction pathways for chemisorption of different silicon precursors via functional group elimination, with more success. DFT calculations identified the initial physisorption step as crucial toward deposition and this step was thus used to predict the ALD reactivity of a range of amino-silane precursors, yielding good agreement with experiment. The retention of hydrogen within silicon nitride films but not in silicon oxide observed in FTIR spectra was accounted for by the theoretical calculations and helped verify the application of the model.

Low-k dielectric gapfill by flowable deposition

Abstract: Methods are described for forming a flowable low-k dielectric layer on a patterned substrate. The film may be a silicon-carbon-oxygen (Si—C—O) layer in which the silicon and carbon constituents come from a silicon and carbon containing precursor while the oxygen may come from an oxygen-containing precursor activated in a remote plasma region. A similarly deposited silicon oxide layer may be deposited first to improve the gapfill capabilities. Alternatively, or in combination, the flow of a silicon-and-carbon-containing precursor may be reduced during deposition to change the properties from low-k to high strength roughly following the filling of features of the patterned substrate.

Semiconductor packages, methods of manufacturing the same, and semiconductor package structures including the same

Abstract: A semiconductor device includes a substrate including a first surface and a second surface opposite to each other, a through-via electrode extending through the substrate The through-via electrode has an interconnection metal layer and a barrier metal layer surrounding a side surface of the interconnection metal layer One end of the through-via electrode protrudes above the second surface A spacer insulating layer may be provided on an outer sidewall of the through-via electrode A through-via electrode pad is connected to the through-via electrode and extends on the spacer insulating layer substantially parallel to the second surface A first silicon oxide layer and a silicon nitride layer are stacked on the second surface A thickness of the first silicon oxide layer is greater than a thickness of the silicon nitride layer

Photoemission electron microscopy of three-dimensional magnetization configurations in core-shell nanostructures

Abstract: We present a photoemission electron microscopy method that combines magnetic imaging of the surface and of the inner magnetization in three-dimensional core-shell nanostructures. The structure investigated consists of a cylindrical nickel core that is completely surrounded by a shell of iron oxide and silicon oxide layers. The method enables one to image the magnetization configuration of the nickel core even though the shell is thicker than the mean-free path of the photoelectrons. Characteristic ${L}_{3}$ and ${L}_{2}$ edges can be observed not only in the yield of the photoelectrons emitted from the surface of the nanostructure but also in its shadow. X-ray magnetic circular dichroism in the electron yield of the x rays absorbed and transmitted by the multilayered nanowire allows for the individual imaging of the magnetization configurations of the iron oxide tube and the nickel core. The method suggests novel approaches for the characterization of the magnetic and material properties of complex three-dimensional nanostructures.