Deposition of SiO2 in integrated distributed electron cyclotron resonance microwave reactor

The deposition of dielectrics onto large areas is mostly carried out in traditional capacitively coupled 13.56 MHz RF plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition reactors. Integrated distributed microwave 2.45 GHz electron cyclotron resonance (IDECR) configuration may be a possible alternative, if its potential advantages are realised. In this work we report on the results of SiO2 deposition obtained with the IDECR system. Thin films of silica were deposited from the mixtures of SiH4 with O-2 at different process conditions. Growth rates of silica up to 10 Angstrom s(-1) were obtained. Optical properties in UV-visible range were studied with spectroscopic phase-modulated ellipsometry. The first results suggest that films have high material quality and the deposition technique provides a broad process window. We study the influence of working pressure, power and gas composition on optical properties of SiO2. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science S.A.