silicon dioxide thin films have been deposited at temperatures from 40 ° c . to 250 ° c . by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition using tetramethylsilane as the silicon containing precursor . the properties of the pecvd tms oxides were analyzed with fourier transforminfrared transmissionspectroscopy , boeand p - etch rates and both current - voltage and capacitance - voltage electrical characterization . it was found that the deposition rate for films produced from tms increased with decreasing temperature ; that the -- oh inclusions could be affected by tms flow rate ; and that he dilution rate affected trapping for films produced over the temperature range explored . at both 130 ° c . and 250 ° c ., deposition conditions were identified which formed high quality as - deposited oxide films . under the best conditions , unannealed al / petms - ox / c - si capacitor structures displayed flat band voltages of v fb - 2 . 9 v and breakdown fields in excess of 8 mv / cm . these petms - ox films also show low leakage current densities & lt ; 10 - 9 a / cm 2 which can be maintained up to fields in excess of 4 . 5 mv / cm . the petms oxide electrical quality and process simplicity combined to make an attractive oxide deposition technology for low temperature , large area applications .