Rapid thermal low-pressure chemical vapor deposition of SiOx films onto InP

High quality SiOx films have been deposited onto InP substrates by means of a rapid thermal low-pressure chemical vapor deposition technique, using oxygen (O2) and 2% diluted silane (SiH4) in argon (Ar) in the gas sources. Rapid deposition rates in the range of 15–40 nm s−1 with apparent activation energies of 0.12–0.15 eV were obtained at temperatures in the range of 350–550 °C, pressures between 5 and 15 Torr, and O2:SiH4 ratios in the range of 5:1–20:1. The SiOx films had refractive indexes between 1.44 and 1.50, densities of 2.25–2.37 g cm−3, internal compressive stresses of −0.5×109 to −3×109 dyn cm−2, and exhibited wet etch rates of 0.2–0.8 nm s−1 through the standard p-etch process. The influence of the various process parameters on all the SiOx film parameters such as morphology and microstructure was examined.