APPLICATIONS OF INFRARED-ABSORPTION SPECTROSCOPY TO THE MICROELECTRONIC INDUSTRY

Silicon oxide and hydrogen are ubiquitous in materials and processing issues in microelectronics. This paper reviews the value of infrared a bsorption spectroscopy to characterize the chemical and structural nat ure of silicon oxides, including buried oxides, and the presence of hy drogen both at silicon surfaces and in silicon oxides. Results involvi ng the wet chemical cleaning of silicon and the fabrication issues of Silicon-on-Insulator are presented. Particular emphasis is given to th e characterization of buried interfaces, for which IR spectroscopy is particularly useful.