HDPCVD

High Density Plasma Chemical Vapor Deposition (HDPCVD) is a special form of PECVD that employs an Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) source to generate a higher plasma density than that of a standard parallel plate PECVD system. Higher plasma density provides several advantages:

• Deposition at lower temperatures than PECVD—typically 80C-150C
• Higher quality films at lower temperatures
• Superior trench-fill capability to provide more planarized films

Though HDPCVD provides theses advantages particularly for silicon dioxide (SiO₂), it is capable of depositing the same array of materials as standard PECVD:

• Silicon dioxide (SiO₂)
• Silicon nitride (Si_xN_y)
• Silicon oxy-nitride (SiO_xN_y)
• Silicon carbide (SiC)
• Amorphous Silicon (α-Si)

Silicon dioxide and silicon nitride are dielectric materials—i.e. insulating materials and are commonly used in the fabrication of electronic devices to isolate multiple conductive layers, ,capacitors, and surface passivation. These films are also used for the encapsulation of devices to protect the devices from corrosion by atmospheric elements such as moisture and oxygen. Plasma-Therm offers HDPCVD technology on the VERSALINE platform.