Low-temperature silicon nitride for thin-film electronics on polyimide foil substrates

H. Gleskova*, S. Wagner, V. Gašparík, P. Kováč

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

57 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We optimized silicon nitride (SiN x) layers, deposited by 13.56 MHz plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) at 150°C, to provide a high quality gate dielectric layer for the amorphous silicon thin film technology on polyimide foils. The layers were deposited from mixtures of silane, ammonia, and hydrogen. We varied the H 2 flow rate from 55 to 220 sccm and the rf power from 5 to 50 W, while the pressure was kept at 500 mTorr and the ratio of ammonia to silane flow at 10:1. The best film was obtained from the gas composition of SiH 4:NH 3:H 2 = 1:10:44 and the rf power of ∼20 W. This film grows at the rate of 1.5 Å/s, has a refractive index n = 1.80, a dielectric constant ε = 7.46, a dielectric breakdown field >3.4 MV/cm, a Si/N ratio of ∼0.67, and a hydrogen content of ∼2 × 10 22cm -3, and etches in 10:1 buffered HF at a rate of 61 Å/s.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)12-16
Number of pages5
JournalApplied Surface Science
Volume175-176
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 May 2001
Event10th International Conference on Solid Films and Surfaces - Princeton, New Jersey, United States
Duration: 10 Jul 200013 Jul 2000

Keywords

  • thin-film electronics
  • silicon nitride
  • polyimide foil substrates

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