Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T08:44:58.608Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Growth stresses and viscosity of thermal oxides on silicon and polysilicon

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2006

H. Kahn ,
N. Jing ,
M. Huh  and
A.H. Heuer
H. Kahn*
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44106-7204
N. Jing
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44106-7204
M. Huh
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44106-7204
A.H. Heuer
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44106-7204
*
a)Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

Stresses in thermally grown SiO2 films on silicon have traditionally been determined by substrate curvature measurements. This technique is useful for studying stresses in thin films, but it cannot be used to investigate stresses generated in the substrate during film growth. In the present work, we used microelectromechanical systems-based microstrain gauge devices fabricated from single-crystal and polycrystalline silicon (henceforth silicon and polysilicon, respectively) to measure oxidation-induced stresses in both dry and wet oxidizing ambients. Our microstrain gauges had thicknesses on the micrometer scale, and were themselves used as the substrates to be oxidized. Stresses could be detected in both the SiO2 scales and the silicon and polysilicon substrates. In the SiO2 scales, the stresses were compressive and exhibited viscoelastic relaxation. The as-grown compressive stresses were greater for wet oxidation than they were for dry oxidation, and greater in scales grown on polysilicon than they were in scales grown on silicon. The viscosity of thermally grown SiO2 was the same whether scales formed by wet or dry oxidation, and the same for oxide scales on silicon and polysilicon. Significant compressive stresses were also generated in polysilicon during oxidation, but not in silicon.

Keywords

Microelectrical mechanical (MEMS)Oxidation/annealingThermal stresses
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 21 , Issue 1 , January 2006 , pp. 209 - 214
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1.Deal, B.E. and Grove, A.S.: General relationship for the thermal oxidation of silicon. J. Appl. Phys. 36, 3770 (1965).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2.Pilling, N.B. and Bedworth, R.E.: The oxidation of metals at high temperatures. J. Inst. Met. 29, 529 (1923).Google Scholar
3.Leroy, B.: Stresses and silicon interstitials during the oxidation of a silicon substrate. Philos. Mag. B 55, 159 (1987).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4.Lin, A.M-R., Dutton, R.W., Antoniadis, D.A. and Tiller, W.A.: The growth of oxidation stacking faults and the point defect generation at Si-SiO interface during thermal oxidation of silicon. J. Electrochem. Soc. 128, 1121 (1981).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5.Leroy, B.: Kinetics of growth of the oxidation stacking faults. J. Appl. Phys. 50, 7996 (1979).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6.Dunham, S.T. and Plummer, J.D.: Point-defect generation during oxidation of silicon in dry oxygen. I. Theory. J. Appl. Phys. 59, 2541 (1986).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7.EerNisse, E.P.: Viscous flow of thermal SiO2. Appl. Phys. Lett. 30, 290 (1977).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8.Fargeix, A. and Ghibaudo, G.: Dry oxidation of silicon: a new model of growth including relaxation of stress by viscous flow. J. Appl. Phys. 54, 7153 (1983).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9.Irene, E.A.: New results on low-temperature thermal oxidation of silicon. Philos. Mag. B. 55, 131 (1987).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10.Kobeda, E. and Irene, E.A.: SiO2 film stress distribution during thermal oxidation of Si. J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 6, 574 (1988).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11.Kao, D-B., McVittie, J.P., Nix, W.D. and Saraswat, K.C.: Two-dimensional thermal oxidation of silicon—II. Modeling stress effects in wet oxides. IEEE Trans. Elec. Dev. ED–35, 25 (1988).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12.Fitch, J.T., Bjorkman, C.H., Lucovsky, G., Pollak, F.H. and Yin, X.: Intrinsic stress and stress gradients at the SiO2/Si interface in structures prepared by thermal oxidation of Si and subjected to rapid thermal annealing. J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 7, 775 (1989).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
13.Rafferty, C.S., Landsberger, L.M., Dutton, R.W. and Tiller, W.A.: Nonlinear viscoelastic dilation of SiO2 films. Appl. Phys. Lett. 54, 151 (1989).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
14.Navi, M. and Dunham, S.T.: A viscous compressible model for stress generation/relaxation in SiO2. J. Electrochem. Soc. 144, 367 (1997).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15.Kao, D-B., McVittie, J.P., Nix, W.D. and Saraswat, K.C.: Two-dimensional thermal oxidation of silicon-I. Experiments. IEEE Trans. Elec. Dev. ED–34, 1008 (1987).Google Scholar
16.Kobayashi, K., Inoue, Y., Nishimura, T., Hirayama, M., Akasaka, Y., Kato, T. and Ibuki, S.: Local-oxidation-induced stress measured by Raman microprobe spectroscopy. J. Electrochem. Soc. 137, 1987 (1990).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
17.Hu, S.M.: Stress-related problems in silicon technology. J. Appl. Phys. 70, R53 (1991).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
18.Kawata, M. and Katoda, T.: Characterization of stress generated in polycrystalline silicon during thermal oxidation by laser Raman spectroscopy. J. Appl. Phys. 75, 7456 (1994).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
19.Miyasaka, M., Itoh, W., Ohshima, H. and Shimoda, T.: Dry thermal oxidation of polycrystalline and amorphous silicon films for applications to thin film transistors. Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 37, 1076 (1998).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
20.Furtsch, M., Offenberg, M., Munzel, H. and Morante, J.R.: Influence of anneals in oxygen ambient on stress of thick polysilicon layers. Sens. Actuators A 76, 335 (1999).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
21.Kahn, H., Ballarini, R., Bellante, J.J. and Heuer, A.H.: Fatigue failure in polysilicon not due to simple stress-corrosion cracking. Science 298, 1215 (2002).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
22.Senturia, S.D.: Microsystem Design (Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston, MA, 2001).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
23.van Drieenhuizen, B.P., Goosen, J.F.L., French, P.J. and Wolffenbuttel, R.F.: Comparison of techniques for measuring both compressive and tensile stress in thin films. Sens. Actuators A 37–38, 756 (1993).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
24.Glazov, V.M. and Pashinkin, A.S.: The thermophysical properties (heat capacity and thermal expansion) of single-crystal silicon. High Temp. 39, 413 (2001).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
25.Hetherington, G. and Jack, K.H.: The viscosity of vitreous silica. Phys. Chem. Glasses 5, 129 (1964).Google Scholar
26.Mazurin, O.V., Rekhson, S.M. and Startsev, Y.K.: The role of viscosity in the calculation of glass properties. Sov. J. Glass Phys. Chem. 1, 412 (1975).Google Scholar
27.Keblinski, P., Wolf, D. and Gleiter, H.: Molecular-dynamics simulation of grain-boundary diffusion creep. Interface Sci. 6, 205 (1998).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
28.Carroll, M.S., Sturm, J.S. and Buyuklimanli, T.: Quantitative measurement of the surface silicon interstitial boundary condition and silicon interstitial injection into silicon during oxidation. Phys. Rev. B 64, 085316 (2001).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
29.Tsoukalas, D. and Kouvatsos, D.: Silicon interstitial trapping in polycrystalline silicon films studied by monitoring interstitial reactions with underlying insulating films. Appl. Phys. Lett. 68, 1549 (1996).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
30.Jensen, B.D., de Boer, M.P., Masters, N.D., Bitsie, F. and LaVan, D.: Interferometry of actuated microcantilevers to determine material properties and test structure nonidealities in MEMS. J. Microelectromech. Syst. 10, 336 (2001).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
31.Kahn, H., Ballarini, R. and Heuer, A.H.: Thermal expansion of LPCVD polysilicon films. J. Mater. Res. 17, 1855 (2002).CrossRefGoogle Scholar