Effects of the film deposition process parameters on the properties such as deposition rate, etch rate, refractive index, stress and step coverage of plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposited (PECVD) tetraethylorthosilicate glass (TEOS) SiO2 film were investigated and analysed using SEM, FTIR and SIMS techniques. Increasing TEOS flow or decreasing O2 flow increased the deposition rate and the compressive stress of the oxide film but produced a less denser film. The deposition rate decreased owing to the decrease in the sticking coefficient of the TEOS and the O2 molecules onto the substrate Si with increasing the substrate temperature. Increasing the substrate temperature produced a denser film with a lower etch rate and the higher refractive index by lowering SiOH and moisture contents. Increasing the rf power increases the ion bombardment energy. This increase in energy, in turn, increases the deposition rate and tends to make the film denser. No appreciable changes were found in the deposition rate but the refractive index and the stress of the film decreased with increasing the deposition pressure. The carbon content in the plasma TEOS CVD oxide film prepared under our standard deposition conditions were very low according to the SIMS analysis results.
