Abstract
Contemporary microelectronics is based on silicon devices, which involve SiO2/Si structure, and hence a thin SiO2/Si interface existing between the oxide and the Si substrate. To obtain the optimum Si-based device performance the dimensions of the elements have been reduced significantly to almost the technological limit. This miniaturization of elements has required also a drastic reduction of the SiO2 film thickness up to few tens of nanometers and, therefore, the interface becomes a significant part of the whole oxide. Further reduction of the oxide thickness, however, creates serious problems connected with device reliability. One of the problems is related to the high internal stresses induced in SiO2 films during oxidation process. The effect of this stress on Si oxidation kinetics has received considerable attention in the 1980s. In 1986 a special Workshop on Oxidation Mechanisms was organized treating growth mechanism of thin SiO2 and influence of stress on Si oxidation kinetics. Some of the papers presented at this Workshop were published in a special issue of Philosophical Magazine [1]. These topics still remain in the focus of extensive investigation due to anomalous phenomena observed at low oxidation temperatures and in the initial regime of Si oxidation [1-7]. The knowledge of structural strains and their eventual reduction and control gains growing technological importance, especially for ultrathin Si02 films, where the oxidation induced stress may deteriorate the device characteristics.
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Szekeres, A. (1998). Stress in The SiO2/Si Structures Formed by Thermal Oxidation. In: Garfunkel, E., Gusev, E., Vul’, A. (eds) Fundamental Aspects of Ultrathin Dielectrics on Si-based Devices. NATO Science Series, vol 47. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5008-8_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5008-8_5
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