The Effect of Temperature and Pressure on Residual Stress in LPCVD Polysilicon Films

Measurements of the residual stress in polysilicon films made by Low Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition (LPCVD) at different deposition pressures and temperatures are reported. The stress behavior of phosphorus (P)-ion implanted/annealed polysilicon films is also reported. Within the temperature range of deposition, 580 °C to 650 °C, the stress vs deposition temperature plot exhibits a transition region in which the stress of the film changes from highly compressive to highly tensile and back to highly compressive as the deposition temperature increases. This behavior was observed in films that were made by the LPCVD process at reduced pressures of 210 and 320 mTORR. At deposition temperatures below 590 °C the deposit is predominantly amorphous, and the film is highly compressive; at temperatures above 610 °C (110) oriented polycrystalline silicon is formed exhibiting high compressive residual stress.