Semiconductor device, method for forming silicon oxide film, and apparatus for forming silicon oxide film
View Patent ↗A silicon oxide film ( 1701 ) serving as a gate insulating film of a semiconductor device contains Kr. Therefore, the stress in the silicon oxide film ( 1701 ) and the stress at the interface between silicon and the silicon oxide film are relaxed, and the silicon oxide film has a high quality even though it was formed at a low temperature. The uniformity of thickness of the silicon oxide film ( 1701 ) on the silicon of the side wall of a groove (recess) in the element isolating region is 30% or less. Consequently, the silicon oxide film ( 1701 ) has its characteristics and reliability superior to those of a silicon thermal oxide film, and the element isolating region can be made small, thereby realizing a high-performance transistor integrated circuit preferably adaptable to an SOI transistor and a TFT.
1. A method for forming a silicon oxide film, characterized by introducing a mixture gas mainly containing a gas containing oxygen and Kr gas, and having an oxygen partial pressure of 1% to 7%, into a process chamber, exciting plasma with a microwave within said process chamber, and placing a silicon substrate in said process chamber and converting silicon of said silicon substrate at the surface thereof into silicon oxide, thereby forming a directly oxidized film at the surface of said silicon substrate.
2. The method for forming a silicon oxide film according to claim 1 , characterized in that said silicon oxide film is the gate insulating film of a transistor.
3. The method for forming a silicon oxide film according to claim 1 , characterized in that said plasma is plasma excited with a microwave of a frequency of 900 MHz to 10 GHz.
4. A method for forming a silicon oxide film, characterized by introducing a mixture gas mainly containing a gas containing oxygen and Kr gas into a process chamber, exciting plasma with a microwave, and placing a silicon substrate in said process chamber and converting silicon of said silicon substrate at the surface thereof into silicon oxide, thereby forming a directly oxidized film at the surface of said silicon substrate, wherein the oxygen partial pressure in said mixture gas is 2 to 4%, and the pressure in said process chamber is 800 mTorr (106 Pa) to 1.2 Torr (160 Pa).
5. A method for forming a semiconductor device, comprising introducing a mixture gas mainly containing a gas containing oxygen and Kr gas, and having an oxygen partial pressure of 1% to 7%, into a process chamber, exciting plasma with a microwave within said process chamber, and placing a silicon substrate in said process chamber and converting silicon of said silicon substrate at the surface thereof into silicon oxide, thereby forming a directly oxidized film at the surface of said silicon substrate, wherein said directly oxidized film is used as a gate insulation film of said semiconductor device.