Effect of Plasma Process for SiO2 Film on Sidewall

We evaluated the physical and electrical characteristics of SiO
₂
treated by plasma oxidation on top and sidewall. The plasma process is less effective for SiO
₂
on sidewall than on top and further less for small pattern. Both the characteristics for SiO
₂
on sidewall are sensitive to plasma condition in deposition sequence, while not for SiO
₂
on top. When the plasma process is used as post treatment on SiO
₂
with high coverage and the poor characteristics, they are also not dependent on the condition. Moreover, the post plasma treatment can improve electrical characteristic beyond the level of SiO
₂
deposited by the same plasma oxidation condition.