Highly stable silicon dioxide films deposited by means of rapid thermal - low-pressure chemical vapor deposition onto InP

An attempt was made to deposit a high thermally stable silicon dioxide (SiOZ) film onto InP substrates. The films were grown by rapid thermal, low-pressure chemical vapor deposition (RT-LPCVD), using pure oxygen (0,) and 2% diluted silane (SiH,+) in argon (Ar) gas sources, in the temperature range of 350-550 “C and pressure range of 3-10 Torr. The SiO,/InP structures were heated, post-deposition, up to 1000 “C for durations of up to 5 min, resulting in negligible changes in the properties of the SiO, films and a limited SiO#nP inter-facial reaction of about 15 nm thick. The higher the initial deposition temperature of the SiOs the larger was the film compressive stress and the less the degree of densification the film underwent through the post-deposition heating cycles.