• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.63-74
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• 1994

The ultrathin oxide films less than 100$\AA$ were grown by thermal oxidation in $N_2O$ ambient to improve the controllability of thickness, thickness uniformity, process reproducibility and their electrical properties. Oxidation rate was reduced significantly at very thin region due to the formation of oxynitride layer in $N_2O$ ambient and moreover nitridation of the oxide layer was simultaneously accompanied during growth. The nitrogen incorporation in the grown oxide layer was characterized with the wet chemical etch-rate and ESCA analysis of the grown oxide layer. All the oxides thin films grown in $N_2O$, pure and dilute $O_2$ ambients show Fowler-Nordheim electrical conduction. The electrical characteristics of thin oxide films grown in $N_2O$ such as leakage current, electrical breakdown, interface trap density generation due to the injected electron and reliability were better than those in pure or dilute ambient. These improved properties can be explained by the fact that the weak Si-0 bond is reduced by stress relaxation during oxidation and replacement by strong Si-N bond, and thus the trap sites are reduced.