Specific Process Knowledge/Thin film deposition/Furnace LPCVD Nitride

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LPCVD (Low Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition) Silicon Nitride

6" LPCVD nitride furnace (new nitride furnace) positioned in cleanroom 14
LPCVD nitride furnace (old nitride furnace) positioned in cleanroom 2

At Danchip there are two LPCVD nitride furnaces for deposition of silicon nitride: A 6" furnace (installed in 2008) for deposition of stoichiometric nitride on 4" or 6" wafers and a 4" furnace (installed in 1995) for deposition of stoichiometric nitride and silicon rich (i.e. low stress) nitride on 4" wafers. In LabManager the two furnaces are named "Furnace: LPCVD nitride (6")" and "Furnace: LPCVD nitride", respectively. Please be aware of that it is not allowed to deposit silicon rich nitride in the 6" nitride furnace to avoid problems with particles. Both furnaces are Tempress horizontal furnaces.

The LPCVD silicon nitride deposition is a batch process, where nitride can be deposited on a batch of up to 25 wafers (in the 6" nitride furnace) or 15 wafers (in the 4" nitride furnace) at a time. The deposition takes place at a temperature of 780-845 oC and a pressure of 120-200 mTorr. The reactive gases are ammonia (NH3) and dichlorsilane (SiH2Cl2). The LPCVD nitride has a good step coverage, and the film thickness is very uniform over the wafers.

At moment there is only a standard recipe for deposition of silicon rich nitride (SRN) on 4" wafers on the 4" nitride furnace. On the 6" nitride furnace there are two standard recipes for deposition of stoichiometric nitride (Si3N4), one for 4" wafers and one for 6" wafers.

The user manual(s), quality control procedure(s) and results, technical information and contact information can be found in LabManager:

LPCVD Nitride 100 mm furnace (B2)

LPCVD Nitride 150 mm furnace (E3)

Process Knowledge

Please take a look at the process side to get more information about deposition of silicon nitride using an LPCVD furnace:

Deposition of Silicon Nitride using LPCVD

Overview of the performance of LPCVD Silicon Nitride and some process related parameters

Purpose Deposition of silicon nitride Stoichiometry:
  • Si3N4 (only 6" nitride furnace at the moment)
  • SRN (only 4" nitride furnace, only 4" wafers)

Si3N4: Stoichiometric nitride

SRN: Silicon rich nitride (low stress nitride)

Performance Film thickness
  • Si3N4: ~0 - 1400Å
  • SRN: ~ ~0 - 2800Å

Thicker layers have to be deposited over more runs

Step coverage
  • Good
Film quality
  • Deposition on both sides of the substrate
  • Dense film
  • Few defects
Nitride thickness uniformity

6" nitride furnace (Si3N4):

  • Uniformity within wafer: <2.5 %
  • Wafer-to-wafer uniformity: <4.5 %
  • Run-to-run uniformity: <3 %

4" nitride furnace (SRN):

  • Uniformity within wafer: <2.5 %
  • Wafer-to-wafer uniformity: <6 %
  • Run-to-run uniformity: <3 %
Process parameter range Process Temperature

6" nitride furnace (Si3N4):

  • 780-790 oC
  • The process temperature vary over the furnace tube

4" nitride furnace (SRN):

  • 830-845 oC
  • The process temperature vary over the furnace tube
Process pressure

6" nitride furnace (Si3N4):

  • 200 mTorr

4" nitride furnace (SRN):

  • 120 mTorr
Gas flows

6" nitride furnace (Si3N4):

  • Dichlorsilane (SiH2Cl2): 30-33 sccm
  • Ammonia (NH3): 100-120 sccm
  • The gas flows depend on whether nitride is deposited on 4" or 6" wafers

4" nitride furnace (SRN):

  • Dichlorsilane (SiH2Cl2): 80 sccm
  • Ammonia (NH3): 20 sccm
Substrates Batch size

6" nitride furnace:

  • 1-25 4" or 6" wafers per run

4" nitride furnace:

  • 1-15 4" wafers per run
Substrate material allowed
  • Silicon wafers (new wafers or RCA cleaned wafers)
    • with layers of silicon oxide or silicon (oxy)nitride
    • from furnaces in stack A or B in cleanroom 2
  • Pure quartz (fused silica) wafers (RCA cleaned)
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