Network hydration, ordering and composition interplay of chemical vapor deposited amorphous silica films from tetraethyl orthosilicate

摘要

The chemical or mechanical performance of amorphous SiO2 films depend on intrinsic physicochemical properties,which are intimately linked to atomic and molecular arrangements in the SieOeSi network. In this context, the presentwork focuses ona comprehensive description of SiO2 films deposited from a well-established chemical vapor deposition process involving tetraethyl-orthosilicate, oxygen and ozone, and operating at atmospheric pressure in the range 400-550 °C. The connectivity of the silica network is improved with increasing the deposition temperature (Td) and this is attributed to the decreased content of hydrated species through dehydration-condensation mechanisms. In the same way, the critical load of delamination increaseswithincreasingTd thanks to the silicon substrate oxidation.The utilization of aO2/O3 oxidizing atmosphere involving the oxidation of intermediates species by O2, O3 and O., allows increasing the deposition rate at moderate temperatures, while minimizing carbon, H2O and silanol contents to extremely lowvalues (4.5 at.%ofH). The SiOx stoichiometry andTd interplay reveals two distinct behaviors before and above 450°C. The best corrosion resistance of these films to standard P-etching test is obtained for the minimum silanol content and the best networkmolecularordering,withanetchingrateof 4.0±0.1?/satpH=1.5.The elasticmodulus and hardness of the films remain stable in the investigated range of deposition temperature, at 64.2 ± 1.7 and 7.4 ± 0.3 GPa respectively, thanks to the low content in silanol groups.