Effect of Deposition Conditions on Mechanical Properties of Low-Temperature PECVD Silicon Nitride Films

Published

July 25, 2005

Author(s)

H Huang, K Winchester, A Suvorova, Yiping Liu, X Z. Hu, Brian R. Lawn, J Dell, L Faraone

Abstract

The effect of deposition conditions on characteristic mechanical properties elastic modulus and hardness of low-temperature PECVD silicon nitrides is investigated using nanoindentation. It is found that increase in substrate temperature, increase in plasma power and decrease in chamber gas pressure all result in increases in elastic modulus and hardness. Strong correlations between the mechanical properties and film density are demonstrated. The silicon nitride density in turn is shown to be related to the chemical composition of the films, particularly the silicon/nitrogen ratio.

Citation

Thin Solid Films

Volume

A435-436

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

hardness, modulus, nanoindentation, silicon, silicon nitride, thin films

Citation

Huang, H. , Winchester, K. , Suvorova, A. , Liu, Y. , Hu, X. , Lawn, B. , Dell, J. and Faraone, L. (2005), Effect of Deposition Conditions on Mechanical Properties of Low-Temperature PECVD Silicon Nitride Films, Thin Solid Films, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=850126 (Accessed October 22, 2025)