Plasma-Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD)

PECVD Instrument Type Deposition Techniques Amorphous Silicon Deposition, Silicon Dioxide Deposition, Silicon Nitride Deposition Staff Manager Kelly McKenzie Staff Email kmmckenz@caltech.edu Staff Phone 626-395-5732 Reserve time on FBS Request training via FBS User Dashboard Lab Location B235 Steele Lab Phone 626-395-1532 Manufacturer Oxford Instruments Model Plasmalab System 100

Description

The Plasma-Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD) system is an Oxford Instruments Plasma Technology Plasmalab System 100 platform that is optimized for amorphous silicon, silicon dioxide, and silicon nitride deposition. The PECVD has a variable temperature stage (RT to 600 °C). This system supports wafer sizes up to 6 inches, and provides PECVD film growth over a wide range of process conditions.

Applications

• Amorphous Silicon Deposition
• Silicon Dioxide Deposition
• Silicon Nitride Deposition

Allowed material in PECVD System

• Si, Si_xN_y, SiO₂, SOI
• Hard masks compatible with process temperature

PECVD Gas List

• 5% SiH₄ in N₂
• 5% SiH₄ in Ar
• NH₃
• N₂O
• N₂
• Mixture of CF₄ and O₂ (4:1) for Plasma Clean

Resources

SOPs & Troubleshooting

• KNI SOP
• Oxfords reservation and use policy
• Etcher toxic gas handling SOP
• Power Up Oxford ICP-RIE SOP
• Gas Status Board SOP

Process Documents

• KNI's Amorphous Silicon recipe
• KNI's 350C SiO2 recipe
• Process Standards
• High rate SiOx
• High rate SiNx
• Low Rate SiOx
• Low rate SiNx
• Amorphous Silicon Deposition (Silane/helium)
• Etch chamber cleaning recipes

Manufacturer Manuals

• Oxford PECVD System Manual
• Alcatel ADS 602P dry vacuum pump Manual

Specifications

Manufacturer Specifications

• Manufacturer Data Sheet

System Features

• Universal base console that houses the electronic sub systems, control units, pneumatics, and turbomolecular pump
• PC 2000 Operating system
• PECVD process chamber with 160 mm pumping port, view port, and an additional rear port for optical emission end-point-detection
• Heated upper electrode to prevent condensation of low vapor pressure precursors
• PECVD 205 mm electrically heated (700 °C) lower electrode with central wafer lift mechanism
• Parameter ramping software
• 5 Torr capacitance manometer for process control, and penning for base pressure measurement
• Process chamber pumping with 63 mm branch to APC, and isolation valve; chamber base pressure turbo, backed by a refurbished dry pump with roots
• Twelve line gas pod with two non-toxic and three toxic digital mass-flow-controlled gas lines and cleaning gas
• Chamber Gas ring, with split gas manifold
• Liquid vapor delivery system
• Single-wafer automatic insertion load lock with soft pump option

System Specifications

• Chamber wall heating 80 °C
• 30/300 W RF generator close-coupled to the upper electrode through an automatic matching unit; the generator is configured to operate in a low-power mode (0-30 W) for higher accuracy during low-rate deposition processes
• 600 W solid-state 50-460 kHz LF generator

Related Instrumentation in the KNI

Sputtering Systems

• ATC Orion 8: Dielectric Sputter System
• ATC Orion 8: Chalcogenide Sputter System

Electron Beam Evaporation Systems

• Labline: Electron Beam Evaporator
• CHA: Electron Beam Evaporator

Chemical Vapor Deposition

• FlexAL II: Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD)
• Plasma-Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD)