Formation of Transparent SiO₂ Thin Film at Room Temperature with Excimer Lamp Irradiation

<jats:title>ABSTRACT</jats:title><jats:p>A transparent SiO<jats:sub>2</jats:sub> thin film was grown with Xe<jats:sub>2</jats:sub>* excimer lamp and NF<jats:sub>3</jats:sub>, O<jats:sub>2</jats:sub> mixed gases at room temperature. Unlike the conventional methods such as atomic layer epitaxy (ALE) at low temperature, this method requires only a few minutes for deposition without changing material gases. A Si substrate was placed in a reaction chamber, which was filled with NF<jats:sub>3</jats:sub> and O<jats:sub>2</jats:sub> gases. The gases were exposed to the Xe<jats:sub>2</jats:sub>* excimer lamp light, and SiF<jats:sub>4</jats:sub> and NO<jats:sub>2</jats:sub> were produced by photochemical reaction. The SiF<jats:sub>4</jats:sub> was adsorbed on the substrate; which reacted with NO<jats:sub>2</jats:sub> in gas ambient and was oxidized to form SiO<jats:sub>2</jats:sub>. The molecular layer was produced per reaction, and by voluntarily repeated reaction, the transparent SiO<jats:sub>2</jats:sub> thin film was grown. As a result, the SiO<jats:sub>2</jats:sub> film thickness of about 2200 Å was achieved for 15 minutes at room temperature. By annealing the formed SiO<jats:sub>2</jats:sub> film, the surface current density of the formed SiO<jats:sub>2</jats:sub> decreased; the higher the annealing temperature became, the more the surface density decreased.</jats:p>