Fluorine-enhanced plasma growth of native layers on silicon

Fluorine-enhanced low-temperature (⩽600 °C) plasma growth of oxides and nitrides from Si has been studied. It is shown that the growth rates are greatly increased by incorporation of less than 1/2 atomic percent fluorine into the films. Auger profiles of fluorine-enhanced-plasma-grown SiO2 films show that they are nearly indistinguishable from those grown thermally. Uniform silicon oxynitride films (with N/O concentration ratios near 2) of thicknesses over 1000 Å can be grown in about four hours.