Oxidation kinetics of Si and SiGe by dry rapid thermal oxidation, in-situ steam generation oxidation and dry furnace oxidation

The fabrication of ultrathin compressively strained SiGe-On-Insulator layers by the condensation technique is likely a key milestone towards low-power and high performances FD-SOI logic devices. However, the SiGe condensation technique still requires challenges to be solved for an optimized use in an industrial environment. SiGe oxidation kinetics, upon which the condensation technique is founded, has still not reached a consensus in spite of various studies which gave insights into the matter. This paper aims to bridge the gaps between these studies by covering various oxidation processes relevant to today's technological needs with a new and quantitative analysis methodology. We thus address oxidation kinetics of SiGe with three Ge concentrations (0%, 10%, and 30%) by means of dry rapid thermal oxidation, in-situ steam generation oxidation, and dry furnace oxidation. Oxide thicknesses in the 50 Å to 150 Å range grown with oxidation temperatures between 850 and 1100 °C were targeted. The present work shows first that for all investigated processes, oxidation follows a parabolic regime even for thin oxides, which indicates a diffusion-limited oxidation regime. We also observe that, for all investigated processes, the SiGe oxidation rate is systematically higher than that of Si. The amplitude of the variation of oxidation kinetics of SiGe with respect to Si is found to be strongly dependent on the process type. Second, a new quantitative analysis methodology of oxidation kinetics is introduced. This methodology allows us to highlight the dependence of oxidation kinetics on the Ge concentration at the oxidation interface, which is modulated by the pile-up mechanism. Our results show that the oxidation rate increases with the Ge concentration at the oxidation interface.