Silicon oxidation and Si--SiO/sub 2/ interface of thin oxides
High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and ellipsometry techniques have been employed to measure thicknesses of silicon oxide, grown at 800 /sup 0/C in dry oxygen, in the thickness range of 2--20 nm. While the oxide growth data measured from TEM obey a nearly linear behavior, those obtained from ellipsometry are seen to vary nonlinearly. The interface structure as function of the increasing oxide thickness was studied using HRTEM. At these oxidation temperatures, the earlier reported variations of roughness at the interface on the oxide thickness for oxides grown at 900 /sup 0/C are not seen. Attempts aimed at correlating the high-resolution transmission electron micrographs with some physical parameters like the refractive index and the dielectric breakdown lead to considerations of the importance of the effect of protrusions of silicon atoms of 1 mm size into SiO/sub 2/ layers on the interface properties. These findings lead to explanations of some key features concerning the refractive index and density of thin SiO/sub 2/.
- Research Organization:
- Materials Science and Engineering Department, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695-7907
- OSTI ID:
- 6737097
- Journal Information:
- J. Mat. Res.; (United States), Journal Name: J. Mat. Res.; (United States) Vol. 2:2; ISSN JMREE
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
360603* -- Materials-- Properties
360604 -- Materials-- Corrosion
Erosion
& Degradation
CHALCOGENIDES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
DENSITY
DIMENSIONS
ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
ELEMENTS
ELLIPSOMETRY
INTERFACES
MEASURING METHODS
MICROSCOPY
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
OXIDATION
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
REFRACTIVITY
ROUGHNESS
SEMIMETALS
SILICON
SILICON COMPOUNDS
SILICON OXIDES
STRESSES
SURFACE PROPERTIES
THICKNESS
TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY