ABSTRACT

This chapter discusses the basic technology and theory of silicon oxidation; extending silicon-based dielectrics into the nanoscale regime by nitridation of the silicon dioxide; and transitioning of the silicon-based dielectric to a metal-based dielectric, such as hafnium to significantly increase its dielectric constant. Rapid thermal oxidation becomes capable of competing economically with the more conventional vertical hot-wall batch furnaces with rapid oxidation rates in excess of 100 nm/min. The majority of the models begins with the Deal-Grove oxidation model and modifies it to include the effects of nitrogen at the Si-SiO2 or Si-SiON interface. Since oxidation and nitridation occur spontaneously, it is difficult to form sub-1.0 nm thick ultra-thin gate dielectrics with higher nitrogen concentration. The initial step, oxidation defines the physical thickness gate dielectrics. The final group of oxide failures is considered to be due to intrinsic properties of silicon oxide.