The low-temperature remote-plasma-activated pulsed chemical vapor deposition route to SiNx from 1,3,5-tri(isopropyl)cyclotrisilazane

•Remote-Plasma-Activated pulsed chemical vapor deposited silicon nitride at ≥200°C.•1,3,5-tri(isopropyl)cyclotrisilazane (TICZ) specifically designed for this purpose.•TICZ provides a low energy pathway for carbon elimination and clean film formation.•Process combines thermal TICZ adsorption pulse and remote NH3 plasma reaction pulse.•Film formation begins instantaneously in the first cycle without incubation period. High-quality silicon nitride (SiNx) thin films were grown by remote-plasma-activated pulsed chemical vapor deposition (P-CVD) from the source precursor 1,3,5-tri(isopropyl)cyclotrisilazane (TICZ, C9H27N3Si3) and remote ammonia (NH3) plasma on silicon oxide (SiO2) substrates within an optimized substrate temperature window ranging from 200 to 350 °C. TICZ was selected because of its chemical stability, non-pyrophoric nature, good vapor pressure (~127 Pa at 70 °C), and its chemical structure that incorporates alkyl groups with three C atoms on each N atom, which provides a clean elimination mechanism for low temperature SiNx deposition. P-CVD consisted of a four-step process: TICZ pulse with no plasma, N2 purge, NH3 plasma pulse, and N2 purge. The as-deposited films were analyzed using spectroscopic ellipsometry and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Wet etch rates were determined using a standard solution consisting of 0.5% hydrofluoric acid in deionized water. XPS analysis revealed a Si:N ratio of ~1:1 within the entire substrate temperature range and validated the formation of the SiNx phase. In situ, real-time ellipsometry measurements confirmed that SiNx growth exhibited a non-self-limiting P-CVD behavior. They also yielded an as-grown SiNx average refractive index of ~1.8 for the films grown at substrate temperatures above 200 °C.