title: Effect of catalyst layer density and growth temperature in rapid atomic layer deposition of silica using tris(tert-pentoxy)silanol.
abstract: Rapid atomic layer deposition (RALD) of SiO₂ thin films was achieved using trimethyl-aluminum and tris(tert-pentoxy)silanol (TPS) as the catalyst and Si precursor, respectively. A maximum growth rate as high as ∼28 nm/cycle was obtained by optimizing the catalyst layer density, whereas the previous reports showed lower values of 12 to 17 nm/cycle [Hausmann et al. Science2002, 298, 402-406; Burton et al. Chem. Mater. 2008, 20, 7031-7043]. When the growth temperature was increased from 140 to 230 °C, the growth rate was not much reduced and the TPS pulse time showing a saturated growth rate became rather longer. Si-CH₃, Si-OH, and Si-H bonds were not detected in infrared spectra from the RALD SiO₂ film grown at 230 °C. The film quality could be enhanced substantially by applying a higher growth temperature and an in situ post plasma treatment process.
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Inter-University Semiconductor Research Center, Seoul National University, 599 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul 151-742, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Seok-Jun
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Won
authors.forename: Joon Rae
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Sungin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Suh
authors.forename: Nae-In
authors.initials: NI
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Cheol Seong
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.forename: Hyeong Joon
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Kim