This paper presents a study on plasma‐assisted chemical vapor deposition of silicon dioxide films using tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS). It was found that when oxygen is utilized as an oxidant, the resulting film contained approximately 1 atom percent (a/o) of nitrogen or carbon, whereas using
N2O
in the reaction slightly increased the nitrogen concentration to 2 a/o. However, in the absence of oxidant, the carbon and nitrogen concentrations were approximately 18 and 6 a/o, respectively. The step coverage of the film, regardless of the oxidant, was approximately 34%, a substantial improvement compared to the 10% obtained for oxide films deposited using silane‐based chemistry. The refractive index, infrared spectrum, and film density appear characteristic of deposited
SiO2
films. The electrical characterization of the
TEOS‐O2
films yielded a breakdown electric field greater than 6.6 MV/cm, and a leakage current density of
8×10−9A/cm2
at 1 MV/cm. The breakdown electric field and leakage current density of a thermally grown oxide with comparable thickness are 8 MV/cm and
2×10−9A/cm2
, respectively.
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