Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 February 2011
We have deposited a range of silicon oxides by the Remote Plasma Enhanced CVD method. By varying gas mixtures and/or substrate temperature, it is possible to deposit films that are essentially stoichiometric SiO_, Si-deficient oxides which have OH groups but no SiH and Si-rich oxides which have SiH groups and no OH. This paper addresses three issues : (1) the nature of the infrared vibrations associated with the SiH and SiOH groups; (2) the use of D for H substitutions to study the vibrations in (1); and (3) the chemical origin of the SiOH group in the Si-deficient films.