COMPOSITIONAL AND MECHANISTIC ASPECTS OF ULTRATHIN OXYNITRIDE FILM GROWTH ON SI(100)

The oxynitridation of Si(100) by various sequences of NO, N2O and O-2 exposures have been examined using high resolution medium energy ion s cattering (MEIS) to determine accurate N and O concentrations and dept h profiles. The results demonstrate that: 1) NO-produced oxynitride fi lms have a higher concentration of N in them relative to N2O films, 2) N, once incorporated, significantly retards the rate of continued oxi dation (or nitridation) in proportion to the N concentration, and 3) c oncurrent to nitridation near the interface, under certain conditions N2O exposure may remove N from a film in the overlayer beyond the near -interfacial (similar to 1.5nm) region, whereas NO is much less effect ive at removing N.