Effects of Ultra-Thin Germanium Layers at the Silicon-Oxide Interface During Oxidation Reactions on Injection of Interstitials

It is well known that the oxidation of Silicon will inject interstitial atoms into the bulk, causing various effects such as OED and OSF. The presence of Germanium at this oxidizing interface has long been known to suppress this interstitial injection. Previously it was believed that only the top monolayer at the oxidizing interface was responsible for this effect or participated in the reaction, but the effects of monolayer and sub-monolayer Germanium in this region have never been studied. These doses can be introduced through ion implantation and the interstitial injection quantified through bound interstitials captured by buried loops. Results show that partial suppression can be observed for doses as low as 1.7 x1014 cm-2 (0.2 monolayer) but that total suppression requires in excess of 1.4x1015 cm-2 (2 monolayers). This opens up new possibilities in modulating or eliminating the degree of injection through controlling the dose of Germanium using low energy ion implantation. It is also shown that germanium introduced directly at the surface using ultra-low energy 200eV ion implantation shows similar behavior to germanium introduced through higher energy implantations and subsequent condensation.

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