Surface Passivation of Semiconductors

Abstract

A review is given of the work on the passivation of silicon surfaces with thermally grown silicon dioxide films. This work has led to the high performance and stability of bipolar transistors and insulated gate field-effect transistors used in integrated circuits. The main emphasis is on the processing methods and measurements which have led to the optimization of the passivating properties of silicon dioxide films by controlling fixed charge, interface states, and drift.