Degradation of silicon dioxide during selective silicon epitaxy in a dichlorosilane environment

The electrical degradation of dry thermal SiO₂ upon exposure to selective silicon epitaxy using dichlorosilane has been investigated. Capacitors were fabricated with thermal gate oxides (120 to 440A thick) grown on p-type silicon (100) substrates. Prior to the gate electrode formation, the oxides were exposed to hydrogen and dichlorosilane + hydrogen anneals. Leakage current and electric field breakdowns were measured to evaluate the effects of these anneals on the SiO₂ degradation. The SiO₂ degradation occurring because of dichlorosilane exposure was studied as a function of the temperature and time. While dichlorosilane exposure at temperatures above 850°C was found to cause high leakage current and breakdowns at low electric fields for silicon dioxide films thinner than 440Å, little effect was observed as a result of hydrogen and chlorine exposures. The degradation mechanism was attributed to pinhole etching via volatile SiO formation along defects present in the as-grown SiO₂.