A detailed investigation is conducted on the oxidation characteristics and electrical properties of very thin gate oxides (70–400Å), prepared by a novel two‐step trichloroethylene (dual TCE) oxidation process. It is demonstrated that very thin oxide films can be accurately and reproducibly prepared under a variety of oxidation conditions. A reversal of relative oxidation rate of (111) and (100) silicon surfaces is observed at low oxygen partial pressure similar to that reported by earlier researchers. In addition to this observation, we find that the reversal is also strongly dependent on the TCE flow rate. Minima are observed in and as a function of TCE flow rate. While the former results agree with earlier work, the minimum in the latter case is located differently, at a lower flow rate. The breakdown fields on oxides grown by various techniques are compared, and dual TCE oxides are shown to have good breakdown characteristics.
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Cheng et al. (1984) studied this question.