Microkinetic based growth and property modeling of plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition silicon nitride thin film

We demonstrate a microkinetic modeling framework which is a first principle-based surface reaction thermodynamics modeling methodology to describe the plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition process of silicon nitride thin film formation. The results illustrating the relationship between silicon nitride growth per cycle (GPC) and quasi self-limiting behavior on both dichlorosilane precursor dose amount and plasma nitridation time are consistent with the experiment. Ultimately, GPC is limited to the equivalent of a half monolayer of a Si3N4 crystalline structure. Importantly, we have observed a strong correlation between subsurface NH terminated Si group concentration and HF wet etch rate by an experiment, which varies with substrate temperature.