Room temperature O-2 plasma oxidation of Si by electron cyclotron resonance plasma source

Silicon dioxide films were grown using oxygen plasma generated by an electr on cyclotron resonance(ECR) plasma source at room temperature. This oxidati on temperature is much lower than previously reported plasma oxidation of s ilicon. We have studied ECR O-2 plasma oxidation mechanism based on the Kim et al.'s model for the various conditions such as oxidation time, substrat e temperature, O-2 flow rate, and microwave power. It was found that the cr itical temperature for pure ECR O-2 plasma oxidation is about 300 degrees C . The oxide film thickness decreases with increasing O-2 how rate and incre ases non-linearly with increasing microwave power. Also, the breakdown fiel d strength of an ultra-thin oxide film prepared by ECR O-2 plasma was 10 MV /cm, which is comparable to thermally grown oxide at high temperature.