Variation of Hydrogen Bonding, Depth Profiles, and Spin Density in Plasma‐Deposited Silicon Nitride and Oxynitride Film with Deposition Mechanism

The initial transient phenomenon in plasma processing, an intrinsic and unstable phenomenon of the glow discharge, is found to be the probable cause of the hydrogen‐poor and silicon‐rich structure and the silicon nitride(or oxynitride)‐silicon substrate interfaces of all plasma‐deposited films. A simple and qualitative model was developed to explain the variation of the interface composition of the film with this transient phenomenon. Fourier transform infrared and electron spin resonance measurements suggest the existence of a “stable” amorphous silicon oxynitride ( RI ≃ 1.75 ) composition in films prepared by plasma‐enhanced chemical vapor deposition processing.