Microstructure and morphology of SiOx film deposited by APCVD

A kind of silicon rich oxide (SiOx) film deposited on aluminum substrate by atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (APCVD) was reported. The morphology and microstructure of the film were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron diffraction (TED). The deposition process is proposed to be a series of nucleation, growth and close stacking of non-uniform SiOx cells, which are stacked up by lots of SiOx laminae. A growth mechanism of the film according to the Stranski-Krastanov model is presented. In the growth process, the SiOx molecules incline to cluster like an island and merge into a layer and, then, form a laminar structure of SiOx cell. High resolution transmission electronic microscopy (TEM) picture shows that the film is basically amorphous with a little micro crystalline zone in it, which is certified by the XRD and TED results. The differences between this SiOx film and the common polycrystalline SiO2 are also discussed in this paper.