Deposition of ternary silicon based compounds by CVD techniques

Silicon oxynitride films have been grown from SiH4, NH3 and O2 gas mixtures by both thermal and plasma-assisted CVD techniques under otherwise similar conditions. The aim of this work is to compare the structural characteristics of the films obtained by both techniques. Thermal CVD films consist mostly in a mixture of silicon oxide and silicon nitride compounds. However, the results show that the ternary structure (silicon oxynitride) is promoted when the precursor gases are activated by plasma. Depending on the activation method (either thermal or by plasma) the species present in the gas phase may change, which determine the formation mechanism of the layers in either case