Isotopic tracing study of the growth of silicon carbide nanocrystals at the SiO2/Si interface by CO annealing
Résumé
The epitaxial growth of beta-Sic nanocrystals at the (SiO2)-O-16/Si(100) interface under CO annealing has been studied using (CO)-C-13-O-18 and isotopically sensitive nuclear reaction analysis and secondary ion mass spectrometry analysis. The results show that the amount of SiC increases linearly with the CO pressure and the annealing time. We demonstrate that the CO diffuses as a molecule in the silica and that for each C atom reacting to form SiC, an oxygen atom is incorporated in the vicinity of the interface. The linear and the parabolic rate constants corresponding to an adapted Deal and Grove model are also determined. (C) 2009 American Institute of Physics. [DOI: 10.1063/1.3173278]