Breakdown characteristics of thin SiO2 films deposited from TEOS using plasma CVD method

SiO₂ films were deposited from TEOS (tetraethoxysilane) using the plasma CVD (chemical vapor deposition) method, and some properties including the dielectric strength were studied. The TEOS-SiO ₂ film features low deposition temperature, high quality, and good step-coverage, has become indispensable as an interlevel dielectric layer. Attention is given to the following: the etching rate and absorbance of Si-O-Si bondings at 1060 cm^-1 as a function of the deposition temperature, the effect of the deposition temperature on the contents of H₂O molecules and Si-OH bondings, the effect of the deposition temperature on the dielectric strength and the effect of the deposition temperature on the intensity of 4.3 eV photoluminescence exited by 7.6 eV photons at 45 K