Residual stress analysis of SiO2 films deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition

We investigated the residual stress of SiO2 film using a beam bending method. The effects of deposition parameters such as Si precursor, growth temperature, N2O flow rate and RF power on the residual stress and growth characteristics of SiO2 film were estimated. As the growth temperature increased, residual stress of SiO2 film with HMDS decreased from –235 to –120 MPa while the residual stress of SiO2 with SiH4 showed the opposite trend. As the flow rate of N2O increased, the residual stress of SiO2 film with HMDS changed from –493 to 48 MPa. As RF power increased, the residual stress of SiO2 film with HMDS changed from 153 to −16 MPa. Residual stress of SiO2 film with HMDS was lower than that of the SiO2 film with SiH4.