Ion and Photon Surface Interaction during Remote Plasma ALD of Metal Oxides

The influence of ions and photons during remote plasma atomic layer deposition (ALD) of metal oxide thin films was investigated for different O2 gas pressures and plasma powers. The ions have kinetic energies of ≤35 eV and fluxes of ∼1012–1014 cm−2 s−1 toward the substrate surface: low enough to prevent substantial ion-induced film damage, but sufficiently large to potentially stimulate the ALD surface reactions. It is further demonstrated that 9.5 eV vacuum ultraviolet photons, present in the plasma, can degrade the electrical performance of electronic structures with ALD synthesized metal oxide films.