Diluted wet oxidation: a novel technique for ultra thin gate oxide formation

Abstract

An ultra-pure water vapor generator that is compatible with RTP wet oxidation has been developed to meet the need for high quality gate oxides in deep sub-micron device process. This generator is based on a catalytic surface reaction of hydrogen gas and oxygen gas, and enables a precise control of H/sub 2/O/O/sub 2/ ratio in the processing gas at any desired percentage. Diluted Wet Oxidation (DWO) utilizes a low H/sub 2/O/O/sub 2/ ratio precisely controlled by the water vapor generator to obtain a low oxidation rate comparable to dry oxidation, which results in an accurate film thickness while maintaining the film characteristics of wet oxidation.