Ultrafast laser-induced oxidation of silicon: A new approach towards high quality, low-temperature, patterned SiO2 formation

A new low-temperature method of rapidly forming (>100 Å/s) high quality patterned silicon dioxide (SiO2) layers on silicon substrates is presented. Ultraviolet pulsed laser excitation in an oxygen environment is utilized. Infrared absorption measurements indicate that the laser grown oxide is stoichiometric but with a higher degree of disorder than thermally grown oxide. From capacitance-voltage measurements we deduce a fixed oxide charge near the Si-SiO2 interface of 6×1010/cm2 for oxides that have been thermally annealed following the laser induced growth making this material a candidate for applications in semiconductor devices.