Interface creation and stress dynamics in plasma-deposited silicon dioxide films

Abstract

The stress in amorphous silicon dioxide filmgrown by plasma-assisted deposition was investigated both during and after film growth for continuously and intermittently depositedfilms. It is shown that an intermittent deposition leads to the creation of interfacial regions during film growth, but also causes dynamical structural change in already-deposited film which results in a significantly different stress-thickness profile measured after deposition.Film growth in the continuously depositedfilm was also monitored using an in situ laser reflection technique, and a strong change in stress was detected at about 145nm which was attributed to the onset of island coalescence. Show more