Oxygen pressure dependence of the initial oxidation on Si[001] surface studied by AES combined with

Si thermal oxidation has been and will be one of the key processes in fabrication of MOSFET devices designed with a scale of sub-micrometers. For the sake, SiO, layers as thin as sub-nanometers are demanded. Such an initial stage of Si thermal oxidation is strongly affected in growth and surface morphology by the 0, pressure and temperature.') In this study, Auger electron spectroscopy combined with reflection high energy electron diflaction (RHEED-AES) was employed to observe simultaneously the time evolution of surface morphology and SiO, coverage as a function of 0, pressure during thermal oxidation on a Si(OO1)2x1 surface in order to clarify the surface reaction mechanism of Si initial oxidation.