poration, New York (1988). Thermal Annealing Effects on the Mechanical Properties of Plasma-Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposited Silicon Oxide Films

An annealing study was performed on nonstoichiometric amorphous SiO = (x < 2) films fabricated by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) at 300 ~ using Sill4 and N20 chemistry. After deposition, these layers con-tain hydrogen and nitrogen impurities, which were found to play a major role in the explanation f the properties of an-nealed films. Fourier transform infrared absorption spectra of plasma enhanced vapor deposited oxide layers annealed at elevated temperatures show approximately the same features as the spectra of thermal oxide films. This similarity demon-strates the ability of PECVD oxides to form a regular network of Si-O tetrahedrals. From distinct deviations in these spec