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Oxidation Process
Oxidation Techniques Thermal Oxidation
Dry Oxidation
Si (solid) + O2 (gas) SiO2(solid)
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Nitrogen gas flow shut off and oxygen added to chamber - Occurs when furnace has reached maximum temperature - Oxygen can be in a dry gas or in a water vapor state
Nitrogen gas reintroduced into chamber - Stops oxidation process Wafers are removed from furnace and inspected Dry Thermal Oxidation Characteristics Oxidant is dry oxygen Used to grow oxides less than 1000 thick Slow process - 140 - 250 / hour
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The goal of oxidation is to grow a high quality oxide layer on a silicon substrate
The oxide layer isolates these ions from the silicon and prevents them from disrupting the performance of the device.
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SiO2
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Bubbler
A
glass flask, referred to as a bubbler contains deionized water and is attached to the oxidation tube. The water is heated (9099 C), and water vapor forms above the deionized water level.
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Bubbler
A carrier gas, nitrogen, is bubbled through the deionized water. As it passes through the vapor it becomes saturated with water. The vapor travels into the oxidation tube, where with additional heating it turns into steam and oxidation occurs. A consistent oxide growth rate is hard to maintain with the bubbler method because of the difficulties involved in controlling both the amount of water vapor entering the oxidation tube and the temperature of the water. The risk of contamination is also high.
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Flash System.
A small amount of deionized water is dropped onto a heated quartz surface where it instantly turns into steam. A carrier gas moves the steam into the heated oxidation chamber. As with the bubbler, it is very difficult to achieve a constant rate of oxide growth. Unlike a bubbler, however, the flask is never opened in a flash system so the risk of contamination is low. 20
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Dryox System
In a dryox system, oxygen and hydrogen directly enter a heated oxidation tube. In the heated oxidation tube, the two gases mix and form water as steam. The dryox system is preferred oxidation method for advanced devices because the oxide growth rate can be precisely controlled. Mass Flow Controllers regulate the gas flow into the tube, insuring uniform oxide growth. Contamination of the oxide is limited since these gases are clean. One major disadvantage of dryox system is the explosive nature of hydrogen at high temperatures. Safety precautions must be taken to minimize the risk of a hydrogen explosion.
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F1 CG O2 concentration in the gas (bulk) Cs - O2 concentration in the gas-SiO2 interface C0 - O2 concentration in the SiO2 surface (in the solid) Ci - O2 concentration in the Si-SiO2 interface At equillibrium we will have F1 =F2 = F3 Temperature Range-700-1300 celcius. Pressure- 0.2-1.0 atm Oxide Thicknes-300-20000 Angstrom. F1 in the linear approximation can be assumed to be proportional to the concentration difference between bulk gas and surface. F2 the diffussion flux through the oxide layer, will also be written as a difference equation.
F3 is the chemical reaction flux = (rate)X(concentration)
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Dopants cause differential oxidation - Results in the formation of steps - Affects etching process
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High Doping concentration effect Once the Parabolic Stage begins, the presence of phosphorous at the
silicon/oxide interface no longer impacts the growth rate. Instead, it is the presence of P-type dopants in the silicon dioxide layer that influences the growth rate. During the Parabolic Stage of oxidation a dopant, such as boron, moves from the silicon into the silicon dioxide layer where it weakens the bond structures. The weakened bonds allow oxygen and water to diffuse faster through the silicon dioxide resulting in a faster oxide growth rate. Since oxide grows faster in doped regions of the wafer, the oxide will not be of uniform thickness across the wafer. This results in differential oxidation and produces unwanted steps on the wafer as oxidation occurs at unequal rates across the wafer. As the thicker oxide layers consume more silicon, steps are formed which may affect the operation of the device. The variation in oxide thickness across the wafer must also be taken into consideration during future etching. The etch process must be designed to remove the thicker oxide layers, without overetching the areas with thinner oxide layers.
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Wafer Orientation Oxide grows faster on <111> wafers - more silicon atoms available to react with oxidant Affects oxide growth rate during Linear Stage
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Pre-oxidation Cleaning
Wafer must be cleaned to eliminate both organic & inorganic contamination. Chemical cleaning involves removing organic contaminates, followed by inorganic ion and atom removal. Common cleaning procedurewater+H2O2+NH4OH For removing heavy metals:-water+H2O2+HCl
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Wet Oxidation- using H2 and O2 to form water vapor and then oxidation.
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Oxidation affects the electrical performance of the semiconductor device as well. N-type dopants have a higher solubility in silicon (Si) than in silicon dioxide (SiO2). Therefore as the silicon dioxide (SiO2) layer grows during oxidation, the N-type dopants (phosphorous, arsenic, antimony) move into the silicon (Si) layer and away from the oxide layer. This results in a higher concentration level of N-dopants in the silicon (Si) layer, and a build up of N-dopants between the silicon (Si) and silicon dioxide (SiO2) layer. On the other hand, P -type dopants (boron (B)) are drawn into the silicon dioxide layer and actually deplete the silicon (Si) layer of P-dopants. Since the location and concentrations of dopants can affect the performance of a device, the movement of dopants during oxidation must be monitored. Upon completion of the oxidation process, wafers undergo inspection techniques that evaluate the location and concentration of dopants to 46 ensure that the functioning of the device will not be disrupted.
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