Effects of post-deposition annealing on chemical composition of SiNx film in SiO2/SiNx/SiO2/Si stacked structure

To systematically evaluate the quality of SiNx films in multi-stacked structures, we investigated the effects of post-deposition annealing (PDA) on the film properties of SiNx within the SiO2/SiNx/SiO2/Si stacked structure by performing X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray reflectivity (XRR), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, and scanning transmission electron microscope-electron energy loss spectroscopy (STEM-EELS) analyses. The XPS results showed that PDA induces the oxidation of the SiNx layer. In particular, new finding is that Si-rich SiNx in the SiNx layer is preferentially oxidized by PDA even in multi-stacked structure. The XRR results showed that the SiNx layer becomes thinner, whereas the interface layer between the SiNx layer and Si becomes thicker. It is concluded by STEM-EELS and XPS that this interface layer is SiON layer. The density of N-H and Si-H bonding within the stacked structure strongly depends on the PDA temperature. Our study helps elucidate the properties of SiNx films in stacked structures from various perspectives.