Effect of Plasma Process for SiO2 Film on Sidewall

We evaluated the physical and electrical characteristics of SiO2 treated by plasma oxidation on top and sidewall. The plasma process is less effective for SiO2 on sidewall than on top and further less for small pattern. Both the characteristics for SiO2 on sidewall are sensitive to plasma condition in deposition sequence, while not for SiO2 on top. When the plasma process is used as post treatment on SiO2 with high coverage and the poor characteristics, they are also not dependent on the condition. Moreover, the post plasma treatment can improve electrical characteristic beyond the level of SiO2 deposited by the same plasma oxidation condition.