<p>Silicon-based dielectric thin films including amorphous hydrogenated aluminium-doped silicon oxides (<em>a-</em>SiAl<sub>x</sub>O<sub>y</sub>:H), amorphous hydrogenated silicon nitrides (<em>a-</em>SiN<sub>x</sub>:H), and amorphous hydrogenated silicon carbides (<em>a-</em>SiC<sub>x</sub>:H) were deposited by remote plasma chemical vapour deposition (RPECVD) techniques including electron cyclotron resonance plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition (ECR-PECVD) and inductively-coupled-plasma chemical vapour deposition (ICP-CVD) on silicon (Si) wafers, soda-lime glass microscope slides, and glassy carbon (C) plates. Aluminium (Al) in the SiAlO films was incorporated by way of a metalorganic Al(TMHD)<sub>3</sub> precursor.</p> <p>Thickness, refractive index, and growth rate of the films were measured using variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometry (VASE). Film composition was measured using energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) for the SiAlO films and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) for the SiC<sub>x</sub> films. Elastic modulus and hardness of the SiAlO and SiC<sub>x</sub> films were measured using nanoindentation and their adhesion was characterized via progressive load scratch testing.</p> <p>All films were observed to be optically transparent at near-IR and red wavelengths with many SiN<sub>x</sub> and SiC<sub>x</sub> films exhibiting significant optical absorption above 2.25eV. Modification of a previously developed deposition recipe produced doubled growth rates in SiN<sub>x</sub> and SiC<sub>x </sub>films. SiAlO films were produced with up to 1.6±0.1at% aluninium (Al) incorporation, while SiC<sub>x</sub> films with composition ranging from SiC<sub>0.25</sub>:H to SiC<sub>2</sub>:H could be produced depending on the growth gas flow ratios. SiAlO films exhibited hardness and reduced modulus (<em>H</em> and <em>E</em>) up to 8.2±0.4 and 75±2GPa, respectively; <em>H </em>and <em>E</em> for the SiC<sub>x </sub>filmsreached 11.9±0.2 and 87±3 GPa. Initially, adhesion to Si wafers was extremely poor with films delaminating at loads of 1.5±0.3N when scratched with a 3/16” alumina (Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>) sphere; implementation of a rigorous pre-deposition surface cleaning procedure produced films showing only cracking and no delamination up to 30N loads vs. a 200μm radius Rockwell C diamond stylus.</p> / Master of Applied Science (MASc)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:mcmaster.ca/oai:macsphere.mcmaster.ca:11375/13030 |
| Date | 10 1900 |
| Creators | Taggart, Owen |
| Contributors | Mascher, Peter, Turak, Ayse, Engineering Physics |
| Source Sets | McMaster University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
Page generated in 0.0021 seconds