Re-oxidation characteristics of oxynitrides on 3C- and 4H-SiC

N2O annealing of oxides in both Si and SiC is known to result in a similar accumulation of nitrogen at the semiconductor-oxide interface, but the reox idation of oxynitrides is different in these materials. With Si, the nitrog en at the interfl pound e is unaffected upon re-oxidation even under high o xidant flow conditions. With SiC, as shown in this paper, complete depletio n of the nitrogen from the interface is observed with the re-oxidation of S iC oxynitrides for both 3C and 4H polytypes. The depletion of the nitrogen from the interface is strongly dependent on the re-oxidation temperature, R esults are described and a possible mechanism proposed.