Analysis of SiO2 Thin Film on Si Wafer

Introduction

IR spectroscopic analysis has been used for a long time as an analysis method for silicon wafers to analyze the interstitial oxygen atom concentration in silicon, substitutional carbon atoms in silicon crystals, nitride films on a silicon wafer surface, and the oxygen content of nitride films. While relatively thick films of SiO₂ used for insulation could be analyzed, good results were not achieved for sub-nanometer thin films, mainly due to sensitivity problems. In this Application News SiO₂ thin films between one and several nanometers thick formed on silicon wafers are were analyzed with the Shimadzu IRPrestige-21, using the transmission and ATR (single-reflection, GE prism) methods.

July 21, 2004 GMT