Plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition

Plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) is a process used to deposit thin films from a gas state (vapor) to a solid state on a substrate. Chemical reactions are involved in the process, which occur after creation of a plasma of the reacting gases. The plasma is generally created by RF (AC) frequency or DC discharge between two electrodes, the space between which is filled with the reacting gases.

Discharges for processes

A plasma is any gas in which a significant percentage of the atoms or molecules are ionized. Fractional ionization in plasmas used for deposition and related materials processing varies from about 10⁻⁴ in typical capacitive discharges to as high as 5–10% in high density inductive plasmas. Processing plasmas are typically operated at pressures of a few millitorr to a few torr, although arc discharges and inductive plasmas can be ignited at atmospheric pressure. Plasmas with low fractional ionization are of great interest for materials processing because electrons are so light, compared to atoms and molecules, that energy exchange between the electrons and neutral gas is very inefficient. Therefore, the electrons can be maintained at very high equivalent temperatures – tens of thousands of kelvins, equivalent to several electronvolts average energy—while the neutral atoms remain at the ambient temperature. These energetic electrons can induce many processes that would otherwise be very improbable at low temperatures, such as dissociation of precursor molecules and the creation of large quantities of free radicals.