Growth modes and characterization of thin RTP silicon oxides

• Published in: 10th IEEE International Conference of Advanced Thermal Processing of Semiconductors pp. 11 - 14
• Main Authors: Eisele, I., Ludsteck, A., Schulze, J., Nenyei, Z.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 2002
• Subjects: Cleaning; Etching; Fabrication; Furnaces; Molecular beam epitaxial growth; Semiconductor films; Semiconductor process modeling; Silicon; Temperature; Tunneling
• ISBN: 9780780374652; 0780374657
• DOI: 10.1109/RTP.2002.1039433

For thin thermally grown oxides it is necessary to consider not only the transport of oxygen from the gas phase to the Si/SiO/sub 2/ interface but also the transport of silicon to the surface. The latter causes a SiO/sub 2/ growth at the SiO/sub 2//gas interface and/or a desorption of the oxide as is known for instance from ultra high vacuum processing such as molecular beam epitaxy. Using well defined argon/oxygen mixtures in a RTP system the process can be switched between growth and cleaning (etching). Depending on process conditions the quality of thin oxides varies significantly with respect to interface quality and tunneling currents. The presented model explains this behaviour based on excess oxygen or silicon in the grown film. The optimum quality can be achieved if growth conditions near the equilibrium of the two processes are chosen.