Partially Ionized Beam Deposition of Silicon-Dioxide and Aluminum Thin Films - Defects Generation.

Detect formation in SiO_2 and Al thin films and interfaces were studied using a partially ionized beam (PIB) deposition technique. The evaporated species (the deposition material) were partially ionized to give an ion/atom ratio of <=q0.1% and the substrate was biased at 0-5kV during the deposition. The results suggest that due to the ion bombardment, stoichiometric SiO_2 films can be deposited at a low substrate temperature (~300 ^circC) and low oxygen pressure (<=q10^{-4} Torr). Such deposition cannot be achieved using conventional evaporation-deposition techniques. However, traps and mobile ions were observed in the oxide and local melt-down was observed when a sufficiently high electric field was applied to the film. For the PIB Al deposition on the Si substrate, stable Al/Si Schottky contact was formed when the substrate bias was <=q1kV. For a substrate bias of 2.5kV, the capacitance of the Al/Si interface increased dramatically. A model of self-ion implantation with a p-n junction created by the Al^+ ion implantation was proposed and tested to explain the increase of the interface capacitance. Several deep level states at the Al/Si interface were observed using Deep Level Transient Spectroscopy (DLTS) technique when the film was deposited at a bias of 3kV. The PIB Al films deposited on the Si substrate showed unusually strong electromigration resistance under high current density operation. This phenomenon was explained by the highly oriented microstructure of the Al films created by the self-ion bombardment during deposition. These findings show that PIB has potential applications in a number of areas, including low temperature thin film deposition, and epitaxial growth of thin films in the microelectronics thin film industry.