Signature of growth deposition technique on the properties of PECVD and thermal SiO2

Abstract

In this article, we report the process induced variation in the characteristics of PECVD deposited and thermally grown silicon dioxide (SiO 2 ) thin film. We find key differences in the porosity, arrangement of the nano-pores, surface roughness, refractive index and electrical resistivity of the SiO 2 thin films obtained by the two methods. While the occurrence of the nanoporous structure is an inherent property of the material and independent of the process of film growth or deposition, the arrangements of these nano-pores in the oxide film is process dependent. The distinct arrangements of the nano-pores are signatures of the deposition/growth processes. Morphological analysis has been carried out to demonstrate the difference between oxides either grown by thermal oxidation or through PECVD deposition. The tunable conductive behavior of the metal filled nano-porous oxides is also demonstrated, which has potential to be used as conductive oxides in various applications.

Recent Advances in Encapsulation of Flexible Bioelectronic Implants: Materials, Technologies, and Characterization Methods

“…Thermally Grown Inorganic Films: Thin-film SiO 2 layers of a few hundred nanometers deposited by thermal oxidation of silicon have recently been proposed as an alternative solution to SiO 2 films deposited by ALD, PECVD, LPCVD, or e-beam evaporation/sputtering, due to their uniformity and high barrier properties. [239][240][241][242] From PBS accelerated soaking tests, it can be deduced that 1 µm-thick thermally grown SiO 2 encapsulations can provide lifetimes of the order of decades at body temperature. Additionally, these films (that belong to the vaster family of thermally grown oxides, TGO) can also be combined with other inorganic layers (HfO 2 , SiN x , SiC, etc.)…”

Low Voltage a-IGZO Thin Film Transistor Using Tantalum Oxide by Thermal Oxidation

“…On the other hand, thermal oxidation requires a high-temperature process but provides a denser oxide. Thermal growth usually shows superior quality to PVD or CVD and shows lower porosity 25 . Therefore, thermally grown Ta 2 O 5 is preferable to deposited Ta 2 O 5 in terms of its electrical property.…”

P‐18: Student Poster: Low Voltage Oxide Transistor with High Dielectric Tantalum Oxide Gate Insulator by Thermal Oxidation of Tantalum

“…In this paper, low voltage IGZO TFTs are studied with thermal oxidation of tantalum layer and the inverter circuit was developed with small operation voltages below 1 V. Thermal grown oxide shows less porosity than PVD (physical vapor deposition) or CVD (chemical vapor deposition) deposited ones. Therefore, thermally grown tantalum oxide is much preferable for high quality thin insulator because small thickness as well as high dielectric constant is necessary for low-voltage operation of TFT [4].…”