| AVS 59th Annual International Symposium and Exhibition | |
| Electronic Materials and Processing | Thursday Sessions |
| Session EM+SS+AS+NS-ThM |
| Session: | Nanoelectronic Interfaces, Materials, and Devices |
| Presenter: | P. Morgen, University of Southern Denmark |
| Authors: | P. Morgen, University of Southern Denmark J. Drews, University of Southern Denmark R. Dhiman, University of Southern Denmark Z.S. Li, Aarhus University, Denmark |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
The thermally assisted growth of oxide-, nitride-, and carbide films on Si surfaces, in direct reactions, carried out with neutral gases or remote plasmas under ultrahigh vacuum background conditions, are self-limiting processes, reaching different thicknesses. The mechanisms have been studied using photoelectron spectroscopies with synchrotron radiation or conventional x-ray induced photoelectron spectroscopy (XS). For the oxidation with neutral oxygen molecules, or microwave-excited remote oxygen plasmas, and for the nitride formation reaction with microwave-excited remote nitrogen plasmas, the “kinetics” (uptake versus exposure plots) is well described with a Hill-function. For the nitrogen reaction, the variation of the temperature causes the Hill parameters to vary because this reaction has more latitude than the oxidation, in temperature range and final thickness, as well as in the resulting structure of the nitride, going from amorphous to crystalline at higher temperatures. One known instance of the “Hill reaction” is a self-activating enzymatic-like reaction, and such a mechanism is believed to be relevant also in our systems. The carbide reaction is different, due to defects in the growing film, which allow a relatively unhindered transport of Si to the surface, where it reacts with carbon species arriving at the surface, from remote microwave-excited plasmas of methane. Thus the limiting thickness of SiC/Si (111) is around 100 nm, while the thickness of oxide is 0.8 nm, and the nitrides between 1 and 3 nm.