Assignment - ECN-343 : Fundamentals of Microelectronics
Chirag (17116022)
Praduman Chaudhary (17116054)
Oxidation Furnace with 4 inch 300nm Oxidized Wafer
Theory
The oxidation process refers to the formation of silicon oxide on the silicon wafer. The ability
of Silicon to form its native oxide layer makes it a widely used semiconductor in Integrated
Circuit (IC) fabrication. Si exposed to ambient conditions has a native oxide on its surface.
The native oxide is approximately 3 nm thick at room temperature. But this is too thin for
most applications and hence a thicker oxide needs to be grown. This is done by consuming
the underlying Si to form SiOx. This is a grown layer. It is also possible to grow SiOx by a
chemical vapor deposition process using Si and O precursor molecules. In this case, the
underlying Si in the wafer is not consumed. This is called a deposited layer.
The original gate oxide in MOSFET was made of SiOx. SiOx was also used as the
inter-layer dielectric separating different metallization layers, though this is usually a
deposited layer. SiO2 is also used to prevent induced charge due to the metal layers, this is
called a field oxide.
Types of Oxidation
In the case of grown oxide layers, there are two main growth mechanisms
1. Dry oxidation – Si reacts with O2 to form SiO2.
Si (s) + O2 (g) → SiO2 (s)
2. Wet oxidation – Si reacts with water (steam) to form SiO2.
Si (s) + 2H2O (g) → SiO2 (s) + 2H2 (g)
In both cases, Si is supplied by the underlying wafer. Dry and wet oxidation need high
temperature (900 - 1200 ◦C) for growth, though the kinetics are different, which is why this
process is called thermal oxidation. Since the underlying Si is consumed, the Si/SiO2
interface moves deeper into the wafer. The movement of the interface is shown in figure 1.
Fig 1 Movement of the silicon-oxide interface as oxide thickness grows.
Basic Oxide Growth Model
Consider the oxide growth model shown in figure 2, which depicts an intermediate stage in
the growth process. There is an oxide layer of a certain thickness, d0, already formed on the
semiconductor. There are also oxidizing species present in the gas phase, which can cause
further growth of the oxide layer.
Fig 2 A one-dimensional growth model for oxide formation with the fluxes and
concentrations marked.
There are three fluxes present in the system.
1. Flux, F1, corresponds to the transport of oxidizing species from the bulk of the gas
phase to the surface of the oxide layer, i.e. oxide-gas interface.
2. Flux, F2, corresponds to the transport of the oxidizing species through the oxide layer
to the oxide-Si interface. For simplicity, it can be assumed that there is no dissociation of
the oxidizing species within the oxide layer.
3. Flux, F3, corresponds to the reaction of the oxidizing species with Si, to form a new
oxide layer.
When the system is in steady-state, all fluxes must balance F1 = F2 = F3
Oxidation Furnaces Equipment
Furnace equipment serves as a workhorse in thermal processing and is among the
simplest type of processing equipment in the semiconductor industry. The equipment is
conceptually constituted of an oven capable of temperatures from 600 to 1200 ◦ C and a
simple gas distribution system capable of introducing the oxygen or water molecule
oxidants. Since the growth rate of the oxide layer is highly dependent on the temperature,
precise temperature control is essential for oxidation furnaces. Modern furnaces are easy
to handle up to several hundred 8 in. wafers, with a temperature uniformity of ±0.5 ० C.
Figure 3 shows two images of a conventional horizontal furnace and an RTP chamber.
Figure 3 Examples of conventional oxidation furnaces
Figure 4 illustrates schematically the setup of a typical oxidation furnace which shows the
conceptual configurations for both the dry and wet oxidation processes. The main body of
the system is a quartz process tube surrounded by a resistance heating element which
can be controlled to produce multiple heating zones. It is common to form three to seven
symmetric hot zones over the process tube.
Figure 4 Schematic for the conceptual construction of an oxidation furnace
A schematic of this furnace tube is shown in figure 5. The furnace is typically divided into 3
zones - source zone, center zone, and load zone. The source zone is used for introducing
the gases required for oxidation. Typically, this is oxygen (dry ox) or steam (wet ox) at the
appropriate partial pressure (concentration). Sometimes, chlorinated oxide layers are
also grown. The chlorine incorporated in the oxygen reduces mobile ions in the oxide layer
and also reduces charge concentration at the oxide-Si interface. The temperature zones
thus formed facilitate control of the furnace tube to attain a flat zone near the middle of the
tube where the thermal oxidation takes place. The outer zones are designed to help
compensate for heat losses out of the ends of the tube. The wafers are normally loaded
into the furnace on quartz boats which hold 10–50 wafers in parallel. Nowadays, these
furnaces are most commonly operated at atmospheric pressure. However, if necessary,
one is able to increase the tube pressure to increase the growth rate of the oxide film.
Figure 5: Schematic of (a) horizontal diffusion furnace. (b) The furnace is typically divided
into 3 zones, with the product wafers loaded in the center zone. The zones have their
individual heaters and temperature controllers, to ensure uniform temperature.
This improves the cleanliness and device performance. Chlorine is introduced in the form
of Cl2, hydrogen chloride gas (HCl), trichloroethylene (lq), or trichloroethane (lq). Vapor
from gaseous sources is mixed with the oxygen, while for liquid sources, the gas is
bubbled through the liquid. There are a few purge and pump steps, to reduce
contamination in the furnace before oxygen is introduced. Commercial tube furnaces also
have loading zones (for loading wafers) and cleaning stations, and stations for storing
wafers.
The process wafers (wafers that are used to fabricate the integrated circuits) are loaded in
the center zone. Usually, baffle plates are loaded at the ends (these are made of quartz).
Bare wafers, called fillers, are also loaded along with the process wafers. These help in
regulating gas flow through the furnace so that oxide growth is uniform in the process
wafers. Thus, not all wafers in the furnace are process wafers. Higher the ratio of process
wafers to blank wafers that can be loaded in the furnace, higher is the process throughput
(number of process wafers processed per hour). Temperatures are also constantly
maintained and regulated within the furnace during oxidation, using a PID
(proportional-integral-derivative) mechanism. The typical temperature profile during
oxidation is shown in figure 6. The idle temperature is typically 300-400 ◦ C, to minimize
heating and cooling time during the oxidation process. The elevated temperature also
prevents gases from condensing on the tube inner walls.
Figure 6: Temperature profile in a tube furnace during oxidation.
Process Calculation and Effects
Silicon consumption during oxidation
XSi= Xox*(Nox / NSi)
Nox = molecular density of SiO2
NSi = atomic density of Si
XSi= Xox* (2.3*1022 / 5*1022 ) =0.46 Xox
Effect of Xi on Wafer Topography
At 1 and 3 position, less oxidation is grown. Thus there is less silicon consumed in the
process whereas for 2 more silicon is consumed.
High Doping Concentration Effect
The part having higher doping has higher coefficient for oxidation process and lower for
lower doing.
