Amorphous SiCxNy:H Thin Films Produced with Various Nitrogen Sources: A Comparative Study
Full article
| Journal |
Vacuum
ISSN: 0042-207X
|
| Output data |
Year: 2026,
Volume: 247,
Article number
: 115106,
Pages count
: 14
DOI:
10.1016/j.vacuum.2026.115106
|
| Tags |
Thin film; SiCN; Optical emission spectroscopy (OES); Ellipsometric porosimetry; XPS; FTIR; Permittivity; Cu diffusion barrier |
| Authors |
Ermakova E.
1
,
Plehanov A.
1
,
Saraev A.
2
,
Gerasimov E.
2
,
Shayapov V.
1
,
Maksimovskiy E.
1
,
Sulyaeva V.
1
,
Kolodin A.
3
,
Kosinova M.
1
|
| Affiliations |
| 1 |
Department of chemistry of functional materials, Nikolaev Institute of Inorganic Chemistry SB RAS, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia
|
| 2 |
Department of Catalyst Study, Boreskov Institute of Catalysis SB RAS, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia
|
| 3 |
Department of chemistry of coordination, cluster and supramolecular compounds, Nikolaev Institute of Inorganic Chemistry SB RAS, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia
|
|
Funding (2)
|
1
|
Russian Science Foundation
|
23-79-00026 (123041400012-0)
|
|
2
|
Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation
|
|
Hydrogenated silicon carbonitride (SiCxNy:H) films have received much attention for applications in microelectronics, particularly as interlayer dielectrics and copper diffusion barriers. However, the demonstrated properties are crucially dependent on the elemental composition and chemical bonding structure. Thus, precise control over the type of precursors and deposition conditions is necessary for the development of efficient experimental procedure. In this study, SiCxNy:H films were deposited at 200-450°C by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) using hexamethyldisilane (HMDS, Me3Si–SiMe3) in mixtures with nitrogen or ammonia, as well as hexamethyldisilazane (HMDSN, Me3Si–NH–SiMe3) with helium. The motivation is to establish a fundamental correlation between the plasma chemistry, driven by different nitrogen sources (N2, NH3, or the amine group in HMDSN), and film properties. Under low-power conditions the three distinct series of non-porous materials, characterized as Si–C-type and two Si–N-type, were obtained. Refractive index and dielectric constant changed in the range of 1.62-1.99 and 3.8-5.4, respectively, were related to the deposition conditions and chemical composition of the films. Transmittance electron microscopy (TEM) investigation showed the films are suitable as diffusion barriers for Cu/low-k damascene integration.