Oxidation kinetics of a silicon surface in a plasma of oxygen with inert gases

The plasma oxidation of a silicon surface in an inductive plasma generation reactor were studied using spectroscopic ellipsometry and atomic emission spectroscopy. The effect of inert gases on the formation kinetics of ultrathin SiO2 films is discussed. The effect of intense oxidation of Si in the plasma formed by nominally pure helium was found. It is suggested that this effect is due to the photostimulated acceleration of the reaction at the silicon-oxide interface by the intrinsic optical emission from the helium plasma.