Low-Temperature Oxidation of Silicon by O2 Cluster Ion Beams.

High-quality SiO 2 films up to 11 nm thick were grown on Si substrate surfaces at room temperature by O 2 cluster ion irradiation. No damage was observed after N 2 annealing at 400°C for 30 min in the I-V characteristics of the thermally grown gate oxides irradiated with 5 keV Ar cluster ions. These results indicate that O 2 cluster ions strongly enhanced the oxidation with low irradiation damage.