NITROGEN-CONTENT OF OXYNITRIDE FILMS ON SI(100)

The absolute nitrogen concentration in SiO(x)N(y)/Si films grown by ra pid thermal oxidation in N2O has been determined by nuclear reaction a nalysis. Compared with conventional surface analysis methods, i.e., Au ger electron spectroscopy, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and secon dary ion mass spectrometry, the nuclear reaction N-14(d,alpha)C-12 pro vides more accurate depth profiles of N-14 due to the quantitative nat ure-of the technique and its high sensitivity, approximately 6.0 X 10( 13) atoms cm2. Silicon oxynitride films prepared under various conditi ons, specifically different growing temperatures and times, were analy zed. Nitrogen is observed to accumulate in a narrow region in the oxyn itride (within less than or similar 2.5 nm) close to the interface; th e total amount of nitrogen increases with increasing temperature and g rowth time.