Abstract
Silicon dioxide thin films were deposited on p-type Si (100) substrates by atomic layer deposition (ALD) method using alternating exposures of $SiH_2$$Cl_2$ and $O_3$ at $300^{\circ}C$. $O_3$ was generated by corona discharge inside the delivery line of $O_2$. The oxide film was deposited mainly from $O_3$ not from $O_2$, because the deposited film was not observed without corona discharge under the same process conditions. The growth rate of the deposited films increased linearly with increasing the exposures of $SiH_2$$Cl_2$ and $O_3$ simultaneously, and was saturated at approximately 0.35 nm/cycle with the reactant exposures over $3.6 ${\times}$ 10^{9}$ /L. At a fixed $SiH_2$$Cl_2$ exposure of $1.2 ${\times}$ 10^{9}$L, growth rate increased with $O_3$ exposure and was saturated at approximately 0.28 nm/cycle with $O_3$ exposures over$ 2.4 ${\times}$ 10^{9}$ L. The composition of the deposited film also varied with the exposure of $O_3$. The [O]/[Si] ratio gradually increased up to 2 with increasing the exposure of $O_3$. Finally, the characteristics of ALD films were compared with those of the silicon oxide films deposited by conventional chemical vapor deposition (CVD) methods. The silicon oxide film prepared by ALD at $300^{\circ}C$ showed better stoichiometry and wet etch rate than those of the silicon oxide films deposited by low-pressure CVD (LPCVD) and atmospheric-pressure CVD (APCVD) at the deposition temperatures ranging from 400 to $800^{\circ}C$.
