X-RAY PHOTOELECTRON-SPECTROSCOPY STUDY OF RAPID THERMAL ANNEALED SILICON-SILICON OXIDE SYSTEMS

We present the results of an investigation on the effects of rapid the rmal annealing (RTA) temperature (T-p) and time (t(p)) on the structur al and electrical properties of silicon-silicon oxide systems. X-ray p hotoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was used to provide information on the oxide composition of the annealed oxide sample. We found that a highe r T-p and/or a longer t(p) will increase the percentage of SiO2 in the annealed oxide layer and thus improve the oxide quality. We also disc overed that increasing T-p and/or t(p) will result in a thicker oxide layer. The suboxide density calculation based on the XPS results indic ates that the Si-SiO2 interface of our RTA samples is not abrupt. We h ave used the conclusions obtained from the XPS study to provide satisf actory explanations for the different current versus voltage character istics exhibited by our tunnel diodes. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.