Characteristic of SiO ₂ films deposited by using low-temperature PECVD with TEOS/N ₂/O ₂

In this study, SiO ₂ thin films were deposited at room temperature by using plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) driven by an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) for various with gas mixtures of TEOS/N ₂/O ₂ at a given rf power and dc bias voltage. For the gas mixture with 40 seem of N ₂ in TEOS, 100 sccm of N ₂, and 500 seem of O ₂, transparent and scratch-resistant SiO ₂ could be deposited with a deposition rate of 30 nm/min when rf power of 500 W and a de-bias voltage of - 350 V were applied. The characteristics of the deposited SiO ₂, such as the composition, the binding energy, etc., were compared with the SiO ₂ deposited by using thermal CVD and evaporation. We found that the SiO ₂ deposited using by PECVD with TEOS/N ₂/O ₂ exhibited properties typical of SiO ₂ deposited by using thermal CVD and evaporation. The surface roughness of the 100-nm-thick SiO ₂ deposited by using PECVD was similar to that of the substrate.