A.
Transport of Reactions to
Wafer Surface in APCVD
1. Transport of reactants by forced convection to the deposition region
2. Transport of reactants by diffusion from the main gas stream to the
wafer surface
1. Turbulent flow can produce thickness nonuniformities
2. Depletion of reactants can cause the film thickness to decrease in direction of
gas flow
3. Adsorption of reactants on the wafer surface
APCVD
B. Chemical reaction
1.
2.
3.
Surface migration
Site incorporation on the surface
Desorption of byproducts
C. Removal of chemical byproducts
1. Transport of byproduct through the boundary layer
2. Transport of byproducts by forced convection
away from the deposition region
APCVD
At
steady state if two fluxes are equal
C S CG
The
kS
1
hG
growth rate of the film, v (cm/s), is
F
k S hG CG
v
N k S hG N
Where N is the number of atoms incorporated
into the film per unit volume
For single composition film, this is the density
Mole fraction
The
mole fraction in incorporating
species in the gas phase
CG Partial pressure of the reactant gases
Y
CT
Total gas pressure
where CT is the concentration of all
molecules in the gas phase
Two limiting cases for APCVD
model
Surface
reaction controlled case
(kS<<hG) v CT k Y
N
Mass
transfer or gas-phase diffusion
controlled case (hG<<kS)
CT
v
hGY
N
APCVD
Both cases predict linear growth rates
but they have different coefficients
There is no parabolic growth rate
Surface reaction rate constant is controlled
by Arrhenius-type equation (X=Xoe-E/kT)
Quite temperature sensitive
Mass transfer coefficient is relatively
temperature independent
Sensitive to changes in partial pressures and total gas
pressure
APCVD
Epitaxial deposition of Si
Epitaxial deposition of Si
Slopes
of the reaction-limited graphs are
all the same
activation energy of about 1.6 eV
This implies the reactions are similar; just the
number of atoms is different
There is reason to believe that desorption of H 2
from the surface is the rate limiting step
In
practice
epitaxial Si at high temperatures (mass
transfer regime)
poly-Si is deposited at low temperatures
(reaction limited, low surface mobility)
Deposition of Si
Choice
of gas affect the overall growth rate
Silane (SiH4) is fastest
SiCl4 is the slowest
Growth
rate in the mass transfer regime is
inversely dependent on the square root of
the source gas molecular weight
Growth rate is dependent on the
crystallographic orientation of the wafer
(111) surfaced grow slower than (100)
Results in faceting on nonplanar surfaces
APCVD
In the preceding theory, assumed hG and
Cs were constants
F h C C
1
Real systems are more complex than this
Consider the chamber where wafers lie on
a susceptor (wafer holder).
Stagnant boundary layer, S, is not a constant,
but varies along the length of the reactor
Cs varies with reaction chamber length as
reaction depletes gases
APCVD
APCVD
Effects
Changes
the effective cross section of the
tube, which changes the gas flow rate
Increasing the flow rate reduces the thickness
of the boundary layer and increases the mass
transfer coefficient
Reduces gas diffusion length
To
correct for the gas depletion effect, the
reaction rate is increased along the length
of the tube by imposing an increasing
temperature gradient of about 525 oC
APCVD
Sometimes we wish to dope the thin films
as they are grown (e.g. PSG, BSG, BPSG,
polysilicon, and epitaxial silicon).
Addition of dopants as gases for reaction
AsH3, B2H6, or PH3.
Surface reactions now include
Dissociation of the added doping gases
Lattice site incorporation of dopants
Coverage of dopant atoms by the other atoms
in the film
APCVD
Another problem, common in CMOS
production, is unintentional doping of
lightly doped epitaxial Si when depositing
them on a highly doped Si substrate.
Occurs by diffusion because of the high deposition
temperatures (8001000oC)
Growth rate of the deposited layers is
usually much faster than diffusion rates
(vt >> Dt), the semi-infinite diffusion
model can be applied
C
x
C x, t erfc
2 Dt
APCVD
Mass transport on to deposited
films
Atoms can outgas or be transported by carrier
gas from the substrate into the gas stream and
get re-deposited downstream
The process is called autodoping
Empirical expression to describe autodoping
x
Cautodoping C exp
L concentration and
C*S is an effective substrate surface
*
S
L is an experimentally determined parameter
As film grows in thickness, dopant must diffuse
through more film and less dopant enters gas phase.
Autodoping
Autodoping from the backside, edges, or
other sources usually results in a relatively
constant level.
This is because the source of dopant does
not diminish as quickly but is at a much
lower level.
APCVD
The left part of the
curve arises from
the out-diffusion
from the substrate
The straight line
part arises from
the front-side
autodiffusion
The background
(constant) part is
from backside
autodoping
In APCVD
It is critical to deliver the same gas flows to all the
wafers in order to produce the same growth rates
Wafers placed side-by-side
In LPCVD
Mass transfer coefficient is higher as the diffusion
distance of reactants is increased.
the boundary layer thickness slightly increased as P
decreases
DG 1
hG
S
P
Reactions are limited by ks where adsorption on
wafer surface is key limiting step.
Wafers can be stacked parallel to one another
Note that this arrangement will provide a higher throughput
LPCVD
PECVD
There are some cases where temperature
requirements (thermal budget) will not
allow high-temperature depositions
E.g., depositing Si3N4 or SiO2 after Al
APCVD and LPCVD do not produce good quality
films ~ 450oC
Reaction produced in a plasma ignited
using an inert gas between two electrodes
The sample may be heated
Usually between 200-450 oC
PECVD
PECVD
Ideally
suited to rapidly varying the film
composition and properties during
deposition
Apply a potential and an AC signal (13.56
MHz) across a low pressure of the inlet
gases
The processes that occur are complicated and
very difficult to model
The resultant products are very far from
thermodynamic equilibrium
Generates high concentration of particulates
Pinhole density is a problem if chamber is not routinely
cleaned.
PECVD
Oxynitride
Oxide
Microfluidic Channels formed by PECVD
CVD
LPCVD
PECVD
LPCVD
Polysilicon
Deposited by thermal decomposition of silane (SiH4)
Deposition temperature range 580-650C
SiH4 (vapor) = Si (solid) + 2H2 (gas)
A typical set of deposition parameters:
Temperature: 620C
Pressure: 0.2-1.0 torr
SiH4 flow rate ~ 250sccm
Deposition rate = 8-10nm/min
Doping of film
In-situ (during deposition) by the addition of dopant gases
such as phophine, arsine, and diborane
Often doped after deposition by diffusion or ion implantation
Typically highly doped to achieve low resistance
interconnections
0.01-0.001 ohm-cm can be obtained in diffusion-doped
polysilicon.
Silicon dioxide
Variety of methods (PECVD, LPCVD, APCVD)
Index of refraction is used to determine the quality.
Can be doped or undoped
Oxide doped with 5-15% by weight of various dopants can be
used as a diffusion source.
PECVD oxide
SiH4 (gas) + 2N2O (gas) SiO2 (solid) + 2N2 (gas) + 2H2 (gas)
Temperature: 200-400C
Deposition rate of 900nm/min is achievable
Not a good step coverage
Controllable film stress (compressive)
Contains hydrogen (SiOH)
Used for deposition over metals
LPCVD oxide using dichlorosilane
SiCl2H2 + 2N2O SiO2 + 2N2 + 2HCl
Temperatures ~ 900C
Good step coverage
Compressive stress used to stress-compensate LPCVD nitride
Oxide
LPCVD oxide using tetraethylorthosilicate
(TEOS) (liquid source)
Si(OC2H5)4 SiO2 (solid) + 4C2H4 (gas) + 2H2O (gas)
Deposited at temperatures between 650-750C
Excellent uniformity and step coverage
Silicon nitride
Variety of methods (PECVD, LPCVD, APCVD)
Can be used as an oxidation mask (LPCVD)
An excellent barrier to moisture and sodium contamination
(PECVD)
PECVD nitride
SiH4 (gas) + NH3 (gas) SixNyHz (solid) + H2 (gas)
Deposition temperature: 200-400C
Deposition rate of 20-50nm/min
Not a good step coverage
Controllable film stress
Changes after high temperature anneal due to H 2 out-diffusion
LPCVD nitride using dichlorosilane
2SiCl2H2 (gas) + 4NH3 (gas) Si3N4 (solid) + 6H2 (gas)
Deposition temperatures: 700-800C
Good step coverage
Tensile stress
Better resistivity (1016 ohm-cm) and dielectric strength (10
MV/cm) compared to PECVD nitride films (106-1015 ohm-cm
and 1-5MV/cm)