Silane pyrolysis rates for the modeling of chemical vapor deposition

Abstract

The pyrolysis of silane (SiH4) is the initial step in the silicon component of film formation for a wide variety of electronic materials. Modeling of such film-deposition processes requires the use of appropriate rate constants for this reaction. We report in this communication the widely ignored yet extremely important corrections that must be employed to properly account for the pressure dependence of this reaction. The Rice, Ramsperger, Kassel, and Marcus theory is employed to calculate rate constants, in the manner elaborated in the communication that follows, and quantitative examples are given for the errors introduced by the use of incorrect reaction rates.