Review—Silicon Nitride and Silicon Nitride-Rich Thin Film Technologies: State-of-the-Art Processing Technologies, Properties, and Applications

Abstract

Accelerating interest in silicon nitride thin film material system continues in both academic and industrial communities due to its highly desirable physical, chemical, and electrical properties and the potential to enable new device technologies. As considered here, the silicon nitride material system encompasses both non-hydrogenated (SiNx) and hydrogenated (SiNx:H) silicon nitride, as well as silicon nitride-rich films, defined as SiNx with C inclusion, in both non-hydrogenated (SiNx(C)) and hydrogenated (SiNx:H(C)) forms. Due to the extremely high level of interest in these materials, this article is intended as a follow-up to the authors’ earlier publication [A. E. Kaloyeros, F. A. Jové, J. Goff, B. Arkles, Silicon nitride and silicon nitride-rich thin film technologies: trends in deposition techniques and related applications, ECS J. Solid State Sci. Technol., 6, 691 (2017)] that summarized silicon nitride research and development (R&D) trends through the end of 2016. In this survey, emphasis is placed on cutting-edge achievements and innovations from 2017 through 2019 in Si and N source chemistries, vapor phase growth processes, film properties, and emerging applications, particularly in heterodevice areas including sensors, biointerfaces and photonics.

Multi-level resistance switching and random telegraph noise analysis of nitride based memristors

“…Nevertheless, the majority of research results converge to the conclusion that RS originates from a trap-assisted mechanism [26,27], except [28] where the most probable mechanism is attributed to the movement of protons due to the large concentration of hydrogen atoms. This is mainly due to the different deposition techniques that affect the thermodynamic parameters of the defect formation [29]. In our case, the space charge limited conduction (SCLC) mechanism was best fitted to our I-V measurements (Fig.…”

Silicon Oxynitride Thin Film Coating to Lossy Mode Resonance Fiber-Optic Refractometer

“…The N 2 O flow was always set to ensure equality oxygen and silicon concentrations in the plasma. Such ratios between silicon tetrachloride and nitrogen consumptions are insufficient for the formation of a stoichiometric silicon nitride or oxynitride film [ 36 ], but are quite suitable to obtain nitrogen-doped silica, for which the SPCVD method has been used for the first time [ 37 ]. Figure 2 a clearly presents emission lines characteristic of Si-N (~390 nm) and Si-O (~412–420 nm) species.…”

Fabrication of Planar Microelectrode Array Using Laser-Patterned ITO and SU-8

“…However, autoclavation (121 • C, 12.5 atm, 15 min) resulted in a 75% decrease in impedance magnitude, which implies that the high temperature and pressure of autoclavation deteriorate the insulation property of the SU-8 material. It is because SU-8 has a higher water absorption rate and is thus more vulnerable to the increased temperature and pressure than SiN X [45][46][47]. In the aspect of insulation, SiN X has a superior insulation property because it has a higher dielectric constant, around 6~7, while the dielectric constant of SU-8 is known to be around 3.…”