Thermal oxidation of silicon substrates through oxygen diffusion

✍ Scribed by Masahiro Susa; Kazuhiro Nagata

• Book ID: 103951418
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1991
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 970 KB
• Volume: 146
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0921-5093
• DOI: 10.1016/0921-5093(91)90267-q

✦ Synopsis

A great many studies on the thermal oxidation of silicon substrates have been carried out owing to its industrial importance. In this paper, the conventional studies are overviewed from the point of view of the diffusion of oxygen.

First, the mechanism for dry oxidation of silicon has been discussed on the basis of conventional studies. The diffusion mechanism of oxygen in thermal oxide is considered and it is suggested that oxygen which causes the oxidation of silicon dissolves in and diffuses through the interstitial site in SiO 2 as oxygen molecules, but the micromechanism for the chemical reaction at the Si-SiO 2 interface is not fully understood at present.

Second, the influences of halogens, dopants, an electric field and the plane orientation on the oxidation rates of silicon is reviewed. The influences have been fully elucidated experimentally but the mechanisms causing such phenomena cannot be successfully explained theoretically.

Finally, the future trends in the thermal oxidation of silicon are presented.