Rapid Surface Oxidation of the Si Substrate Using Longitudinally Long Ar/O2 Loop Type of Inductively Coupled Thermal Plasmas

This paper describes the application of a loop type of inductively coupled thermal plasmas (loop-ICTPs) to high-speed oxidation processing. We earlier developed a unique loop-ICTP for large-area thermal plasma materials processing. In this application of the loop-ICTP for oxidation, a part of the Ar/O
₂
loop-ICTP was formed directly lying in the longitudinal direction on the surface of a Si substrate located downstream of the plasma torch. Oxygen was supplied directly from the sides of the substrate. The uniformity and the stability of the thermal plasma formed on the substrate were measured using a high-speed video camera and spectroscopic observation. In addition, the uniformity of the oxidation processing was estimated from the fabricated oxide layer thickness. Finally, an almost uniform oxide layer could be obtained with 50 mm length and 100 nm depth after only 1 min of irradiation of Ar/O
₂
ICTP.