SIO thin film preparation using dielectric barrier 2 discharge-driven excimer lamps

By using a photochemical vapor deposition method with a Xe2 excimer lamp 172 nm, 20 mW cmy2 output power., silica films have been prepared by means of a single precursor process from Tetraethoxyorthosilicate TEOS.at room temperature. Transparent thin films of SiO2 were obtained on sapphire and quartz single crystal substrates with a deposition rate of 0.9 nm miny1. They were mainly composed of amorphous SiO2, although small amounts of residual organic materials were contained. The refractive index was 1.476 at 632.8 nm. The surface roughness decreased with the film thickness and reached 0.2 nm-rms. These findings indicate that the VUV excimer lamp CVD is a promising method for preparing smooth, dense and fine thickness-controllable films of SiO2 at room temperature. q1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.