General Relationship for the Thermal Oxidation of Silicon

TLDR

The study investigates the detailed kinetics of silicon thermal oxidation. A simple oxidation model incorporating boundary reactions and diffusion yields the general relationship x02+Ax0=B(t+τ). The derived relationship agrees excellently with experimental data across temperatures, pressures, and thicknesses, and its parameters correlate with physico‑chemical constants, revealing insights into transported species and space‑charge effects.

Abstract

The thermal-oxidation kinetics of silicon are examined in detail. Based on a simple model of oxidation which takes into account the reactions occurring at the two boundaries of the oxide layer as well as the diffusion process, the general relationship x02+Ax0=B(t+τ) is derived. This relationship is shown to be in excellent agreement with oxidation data obtained over a wide range of temperature (700°–1300°C), partial pressure (0.1–1.0 atm) and oxide thickness (300–20 000 Å) for both oxygen and water oxidants. The parameters A, B, and τ are shown to be related to the physico-chemical constants of the oxidation reaction in the predicted manner. Such detailed analysis also leads to further information regarding the nature of the transported species as well as space-charge effects on the initial phase of oxidation.