Effects of high-temperature annealing on electron spin resonance in SiO films prepared by R. F. sputtering system

Abstract Electron spin resonance (ESR) spectra are investigated in order to analyze paramagnetic defects in amorphous SiO x films with 0.8 ≤ x ≤ 1.87 prepared by a co-sputtering of Si-wafer chips and a SiO 2 disk target. Effects of the thermal annealing at 900 °C and 1100 °C on the ESR spectra are also investigated. Four types of silicon dangling bond centers with forms of •Si ≡ Si 3 − n O n ( n = 0, 1, 2 or 3) are assumed in order to simulate the ESR spectra. The random bonding model appears to describe the network structure of the films with x ~ 2, that is, near the stochiometric composition of SiO 2 . It is suggested that the structural fluctuation around silicon dangling bonds is larger in the sputtered SiO x films used in the present work in comparison with those prepared by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition.