Atmospheric-pressure plasma-enhanced spatial atomic layer deposition of silicon nitride at low temperature

Atmospheric-pressure plasma-enhanced spatial atomic layer deposition (PE-spatial-ALD) of SiNx is demonstrated for the first time. Using bis(diethylamino)silane (BDEAS) and N2 plasma from a dielectric barrier discharge source, a process was developed at low deposition temperatures (≤ 250 °C). The effect of N2 plasma exposure time and overall cycle time on layer composition was investigated. In particular, the oxygen content was found to decrease with decreasing both above-mentioned parameters. As measured by depth profile X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, 4.7 at.% was the lowest oxygen content obtained, whilst 13.7 at.% carbon was still present at a deposition temperature of 200 °C. At the same time, deposition rates up to 1.5 nm/min were obtained, approaching those of plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition and thus opening new opportunities for high-throughput atomic-level processing of nitride materials.