Particle generation by gas-phase nucleation in the plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition process and its effects on thin film surface morphology were studied experimentally for a conventional radio frequency plasma reactor using tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) vapor and oxygen gases. The particles suspended in the plasma space and deposited on the film were observed simultaneously by in situ laser light scattering methods and an ex situ scanning electron microscopic method. The generated particles were trapped in the plasma/sheath boundary under all four experimental conditions, in which TEOS concentrations were 0.5 and 5.0 vol % and reactor pressures were 66.7 and 533.3 Pa (0.5 and 4.0 Torr). The size and amount of particles and the film morphology were found to depend on the TEOS concentration and the reactor pressure. Under the conditions in which highly concentrated particles were generated in plasma, dome-like structures of 50–400 nm in diameter were observed on the thin film surface. The average size of the dome-like structure was comparable to that of the particles generated in plasma.

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