Thin thermal oxides of silicon and the orientation effect: An empirical approach

Abstract

Within a linear-parabolic model of oxide growth on silicon in dry oxygen a set of linear and of parabolic rate constants has been constructed. Data from multiple sources have been collected and correlated with some general concepts. One activation energy for the linear rate constants was found to apply to all silicon orientations. The activation energies for the parabolic rate constants for the several silicon orientations are different. In the fitting of data it is found that the oxygen pressure dependence of oxidation is sublinear and the coefficient for 〈100〉 silicon is not the same as for 〈111〉 silicon. Numerical values for these temperature- independent coefficients are chosen. An initial rapid oxidation appears essentially as a small, limited, growth step. Comparisons of calculated oxidation curves are made with reported orientation effect data.