Method for forming a silicon oxynitride layer
View Patent ↗A method for forming a silicon oxynitride layer, suitable to be used in the production of semiconductor devices, e.g. poly-silicon thin film transistors, is provided. A plasma surface treatment is performed over a substrate after a silicon nitride/silicon oxide layer has been formed on the substrate by a glow discharge system to transform the silicon nitride/silicon oxide layer into a silicon oxynitride layer. The semiconductor device may be completely manufactured in simplex equipment. Therefore, the production time and production cost are favorably reduced.
1. A method for forming a silicon oxynitride layer, the method comprising:
providing a substrate;
forming a silicon nitride layer on the substrate;
providing an oxygenic gas;
exciting the oxygenic gas into an oxygenic plasma; and
treating the silicon nitride layer with the oxygenic plasma to form a silicon oxynitride layer, wherein all the steps of the method are completed in a single cavity and the substrate stays in the single cavity during all the steps of the method, thin film processes for forming a gate, a source, and a drain of a transistor for a semiconductor device is subsequently completed in the single cavity, and the substrate stays in the single cavity during all the thin film processes.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the oxygenic gas is rich in a plurality of ions, which are at least one of oxygen ion and nitrogen oxide ion.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the oxygenic gas is one of O 2 and N 2 .
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the substrate is a glass substrate.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the silicon oxynitride layer is used as a gate insulator layer.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the silicon oxynitride layer is used as the buffer layer.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the silicon oxynitride layer is formed by a glow discharge system.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the glow discharge system is a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) system.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the PECVD system is one of a radio-frequency (RF) PECVD system, an electron cyclotron resonance chemical vapor deposition (ECR-CVD) system, a remote plasma chemical vapor deposition (CVD) system, and a magnetic plasma chemical vapor deposition (CVD) system.
10. A method for forming a silicon oxynitride layer, the method comprising:
providing a substrate;
forming a silicon oxide layer on the substrate;
providing a nitrogen-containing gas;
exciting the nitrogen-containing gas into a nitrogen-containing plasma; and
treating the silicon oxide layer with the nitrogen-containing plasma to form a silicon oxynitride layer, wherein all the steps of the method are completed in a single cavity and the substrate stays in the single cavity during all the steps of the method, thin film processes for forming a gate, a source, and a drain of a transistor for a semiconductor device is subsequently completed in the single cavity, and the substrate stays in the single cavity during all the thin film processes.
11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the nitrogen-containing gas has a plurality of ions, which are at least one of nitrogen ion, nitrogen oxide ion, and nitrogen hydride ion.
12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the nitrogen-containing gas is selected from the group consisting of N 2 , N 2 O and NH 3 .
13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the substrate is a glass substrate.
14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the silicon oxynitride layer is used as a gate insulator layer.
15. The method of claim 10 , wherein the silicon oxynitride layer is used as the buffer layer.
16. The method of claim 10 , wherein the silicon oxynitride layer is a glow discharge system.
17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the glow discharge system is a PECVD system.
18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the PECVD system is one of a radio-frequency (RF) PECVD system, an electron cyclotron resonance chemical vapor deposition (ECR-CVD) system, a remote plasma chemical vapor deposition (CVD) system, and a magnetic plasma chemical vapor deposition (CVD) system.