Infrared dielectric properties of low-stress silicon nitride

TL;DR

This paper accurately measures the infrared dielectric properties of low-stress silicon nitride films, crucial for their application in sensors and circuits, using experimental and modeling techniques with about 4% precision.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive method to determine the dielectric function of silicon nitride in the infrared range with high accuracy.

Findings

Dielectric parameters estimated with ~4% accuracy

Transmittance spectra used to derive dielectric function

Applicable to low-stress silicon nitride films

Abstract

Silicon nitride thin films play an important role in the realization of sensors, filters, and high-performance circuits. Estimates of the dielectric function in the far- and mid-infrared regime are derived from the observed transmittance spectra for a commonly employed low-stress silicon nitride formulation. The experimental, modeling, and numerical methods used to extract the dielectric parameters with an accuracy of approximately 4% are presented.