Silicon oxynitride films deposited by reactive high power impulse magnetron sputtering using nitrous oxide as a single-source precursor | Zendy

Tuomas Hänninen | Zendy; Susann Schmidt | Zendy; Jens Jensen | Zendy; Lars Hultman | Zendy; Hans Högberg | Zendy

Open Access

Silicon oxynitride films deposited by reactive high power impulse magnetron sputtering using nitrous oxide as a single-source precursor

Author(s) -

Tuomas Hänninen,

Susann Schmidt,

Jens Jensen,

Lars Hultman,

Hans Högberg

Publication year - 2015

Publication title -

journal of vacuum science and technology a vacuum surfaces and films

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Journals

eISSN - 1520-8559

pISSN - 0734-2101

DOI - 10.1116/1.4927493

Subject(s) - silicon oxynitride , high power impulse magnetron sputtering , elastic recoil detection , materials science , sputter deposition , analytical chemistry (journal) , x ray photoelectron spectroscopy , sputtering , silicon , silicon oxide , thin film , argon , amorphous solid , scanning electron microscope , ellipsometry , optoelectronics , chemistry , chemical engineering , nanotechnology , composite material , silicon nitride , organic chemistry , engineering , chromatography

Silicon oxynitride thin films were synthesized by reactive high power impulse magnetron sputtering of silicon in argon/nitrous oxide plasmas. Nitrous oxide was employed as a single-source precursor supplying oxygen and nitrogen for the film growth. The films were characterized by elastic recoil detection analysis, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction, x-ray reflectivity, scanning electron microscopy, and spectroscopic ellipsometry. Results show that the films are silicon rich, amorphous, and exhibit a random chemical bonding structure. The optical properties with the refractive index and the extinction coefficient correlate with the film elemental composition, showing decreasing values with increasing film oxygen and nitrogen content. The total percentage of oxygen and nitrogen in the films is controlled by adjusting the gas flow ratio in the deposition processes. Furthermore, it is shown that the film oxygen-to-nitrogen ratio can be tailored by the high power impulse magnetron sputtering-specific parameters pulse frequency and energy per pulse. (C) 2015 Author(s). All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

Funding Agencies|European Union [GA-310477]; Swedish Government Strategic Research Area in Materials Science on Functional Materials at Linkoping University [2009-00971]

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