A study of the initial stages of the oxidation of silicon using 18O2 and RTP

Abstract The growth mechanisms of the first steps of silicon oxidation at high temperature were studied. The rapid thermal oxidation under a static pressure (40 or 84 mbar) of oxygen isotopically labelled gas ( 18 O 2 ) has evidenced a linear rapid initial growth rate before the classical linear-parabolic Deal and Grove law prevails. The analyses of the 18 O depth profile in oxide films formed by sequential oxidations, under dry 16 O 2 followed by 18 O 2 , suggest an interpretation accounting for the rapid initial oxidation rate: the appearance during the first seconds of non-oxidized silicon fragments in the freshly formed silica network.