Li Qiang, Liu Jie, Dai Yichuan, Xiang Wushu, Zhang Man, Wang Hai, Wen Li
Department of Precision Machinery and Precision Instrumentation, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230027, China.
School of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, Anhui Polytechnic University, Wuhu 241000, China.
Micromachines (Basel). 2016 Dec 14;7(12):232. doi: 10.3390/mi7120232.
The prevention of glow-to-arc transition exhibited by micro dielectric barrier discharge (MDBD), as well as its long lifetime, has generated much excitement across a variety of applications. Silicon nitride (SiN) is often used as a dielectric barrier layer in DBD due to its excellent chemical inertness and high electrical permittivity. However, during fabrication of the MDBD devices with multilayer films for maskless nano etching, the residual stress-induced deformation may bring cracks or wrinkles of the devices after depositing SiN by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). Considering that the residual stress of SiN can be tailored from compressive stress to tensile stress under different PECVD deposition parameters, in order to minimize the stress-induced deformation and avoid cracks or wrinkles of the MDBD device, we experimentally measured stress in each thin film of a MDBD device, then used numerical simulation to analyze and obtain the minimum deformation of multilayer films when the intrinsic stress of SiN is -200 MPa compressive stress. The stress of SiN can be tailored to the desired value by tuning the deposition parameters of the SiN film, such as the silane (SiH₄)⁻ammonia (NH₃) flow ratio, radio frequency (RF) power, chamber pressure, and deposition temperature. Finally, we used the optimum PECVD process parameters to successfully fabricate a MDBD device with good quality.
微介质阻挡放电（MDBD）所展现出的从辉光到电弧转变的预防能力及其长寿命，在各种应用中引发了极大的关注。氮化硅（SiN）因其优异的化学惰性和高介电常数，常被用作介质阻挡放电中的介质阻挡层。然而，在制造用于无掩膜纳米蚀刻的具有多层膜的MDBD器件时，通过等离子体增强化学气相沉积（PECVD）沉积SiN后，残余应力引起的变形可能会使器件出现裂纹或皱纹。考虑到在不同的PECVD沉积参数下，SiN的残余应力可以从压应力调整为拉应力，为了最小化应力引起的变形并避免MDBD器件出现裂纹或皱纹，我们通过实验测量了MDBD器件各薄膜中的应力，然后使用数值模拟进行分析，得出当SiN的内应力为-200MPa压应力时多层膜的最小变形。通过调整SiN膜的沉积参数，如硅烷（SiH₄）-氨（NH₃）流量比、射频（RF）功率、腔室压力和沉积温度，可以将SiN的应力调整到所需值。最后，我们使用优化的PECVD工艺参数成功制造出了高质量的MDBD器件。
