Low-temperature growth (400/spl deg/C) of high-integrity thin silicon-oxynitride films by microwave-excited high-density Kr-O/sub 2/-NH/sub 3/ plasma

A drastic reduction of the growth temperature of oxynitride (SiON) films, which are usually grown around 1000/spl deg/C, is realized by using a microwave-excited high-density Kr-O/sub 2/-NH/sub 3/ plasma system, which enables their growth at 400/spl deg/C. It is shown that the addition of only a minute amount of nitrogen (0.5% NH/sub 3/ partial pressure) into a growing SiO/sub 2/ film, in this system, results in a significant improvements in the performance of both thick (7nm) films, which operate in the Fowler-Nordheim tunneling regime, and thin (3 nm) films which operate in the direct tunneling regime.