Two-dimensional fluid simulation of inductively coupled N2/NH3/SiH4 discharge

Low-temperature N-2/NH3/SiH4 discharge is used to deposit hydrogenated silicon nitride films (SiN (x) H (y) ). In this process, the main factor influencing the improvement of film quality is the active species, such as SiH (x) and NH (x) radicals, which are responsible for surface reactions. The change in plasma chemistry under different operating conditions affects the production of active species in the bulk plasma region. In the conventional N-2/NH3/SiH4 discharge for SiN (x) H (y) thin-film deposition, the information required to explain the correlation between the generation of active species and the process parameters was insufficient. In particular, it was difficult to completely understand the relationship between the generation of SiH (x) and NH (x) radicals using the experimental results based on the measured thin-film properties. Therefore, a numerical model was prepared to understand the mechanism of each radical. To improve the efficiency of material processing and enhance process controllability, an inductively coupled plasma N-2/NH3/SiH4 model was introduced and investigated. This work provides an overview of the generation of each active species in the N-2/NH3/SiH4 discharge. In particular, the effects of the gas pressure and N-2/NH3/SiH4 gas mixture ratio are discussed. Moreover, the principle of the N-2/NH3/SiH4 plasma process for the production of active species (N, NH (x) , SiH (x) , amino-silane complexes) was analyzed; it was found that the generation density of specific particles is affected by the spatial distribution of electrons based on the pressure and gas composition ratio.