Unraveling the role of SiC or Si substrates in water vapor incorporation in SiO 2 films thermally grown using ion beam analyses

Abstract

The incorporation of water vapor in SiO 2 films thermally grown on 6H-SiC(0 0 0 1) and on Si (0 0 1) was investigated using nuclear reaction analyses. Water isotopically enriched in deuterium ( 2H or D) and in 18O was used. The dependence of incorporated D with the water annealing temperature and initial oxide thickness were inspected. The D amount in SiO 2/SiC structures increases continuously with temperature and with initial oxide thickness, being incorporated in the surface, bulk, and interface regions of SiO 2 films. However, in SiO 2/Si, D is observed mostly in near-surface regions of the oxide and no remarkable dependence with temperature or initial oxide thickness was observed. At any annealing temperature, oxygen from water vapor was incorporated in all depths of the oxide films grown on SiC, in contrast with the SiO 2/Si.