Eur. Phys. J. Appl. Phys. 27, 329-332 (2004)
https://doi.org/10.1051/epjap:2004119-5

Investigation of silicon oxynitride and amorphous silicon multilayers

¹ MTA, Research Institute for Technical Physics and Materials Science, 1121 Budapest, Konkoly-Thege út, 29–33, Hungary
² CNR-IMEM Institute, Parco Area delle Scienze 37/A, Fontanini, 43010 Parma, Italy

Corresponding author: frigeri@imem.cnr.it

Received: 10 July 2003
Accepted: 28 January 2004
Published online: 15 July 2004

Abstract

Optical (refractive index) and structural properties of silicon oxynitride (SiON) and amorphous silicon (a-Si) multilayers grown by RF sputtering with thickness in the 10–30 nm range have been analysed by ellipsometry and TEM. Satisfactory agreement between the two techniques is obtained as regards the thickness determination of the SiON films. Disagreement with values obtained by the stylus method by extrapolation for the two types of layers is discussed. The interfaces of the SiON films are very good when n-type P doped Si is used as a target. They are wavy with average periodicity and amplitude on the order of 50 and 2 nm, respectively, when a semi-insulating Si target is used, despite the presence of a buffer layer. Hypothesis is made that P incorporation may improve the reconstruction of the SiON surface.