Low-Temperature Silicon Oxidation with Very Small Activation Energy and High-Quality Interface by Electron Cyclotron Resonance Plasma Stream Irradiation

Abstract

Oxidation using electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) plasma stream provides a large silicon dioxide growth rate at the initial growth stage (>6 nm/min), a very small activation energy of 0.02 eV for oxidation, and a high-quality interface with interface trap density of 3×10¹⁰ cm^-2·eV^-1. The plasma stream was extracted by a divergent magnetic field from the ECR region and irradiated on a single-crystalline silicon substrate with ion energies of 10–30 eV. The high-quality interface was obtained by oxidation without substrate heating and only postoxidation annealing at 400°C in hydrogen ambient.