ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the last important thin film component in an integrated circuit metallisation system-dielectric, or insulating, films. The insulating layer on which by far the most attention has been lavished in the field of microelectronic device fabrication is silicon dioxide. The chapter describes the deposition of other dielectric layers for applications in silicon- and gallium arsenide-based devices, including the vapour phase deposition of silicon oxides and nitrides and the deposition of thin polymer layers. It presents the well documented fact that wet oxidation is always faster than dry oxidation at the same temperature and in the same partial pressure of oxidising species. Two kinds of lattice defects are produced during the thermal oxidation of silicon: stacking faults and dislocation arrays. The chapter shows that the thermal oxidation of silicon is a convenient way of producing a passivating or insulating layer on the surface of a silicon wafer.
