Structural evolution of very thin silicon oxide films during thermal growth in dry oxygen

We have studied the structural characteristics of very thin silicon oxide films thermally grown (at 930 °C, 10 Torr) in 18O enriched dry oxygen for times ranging from 0.5 to 22.5 h (corresponding to equivalent thicknesses ranging from 3.2 to 20.8 nm). Chemical etching combined with nuclear microanalysis, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) has been applied to the samples. A layer that is very slow to dissolve (of equivalent thickness ∼1.1 nm) was observed for oxide films grown for oxidation times of less than 1 h (equivalent thicknesses under 4.6 nm). As indicated by XPS this layer seems to be related to a structure different from what is observed for thicker films; its existence is also correlated to a structural order as seen by RHEED.