A Kinetic Model for the Oxidation of Silicon Germanium Alloys

Silicon germanium alloys have received much attention in recent years for their potential application in high speed and optoelectronics applications. Kinetics of SiGe oxidation need to be well understood for two reasons: (1) to allow predictive process modeling of the oxidation process for technology development; and (2) to give insight into the factors that are responsible for the poor electrical quality of the resulting oxide. Some models have been proposed to explain the outcomes of the oxidation process, yet a complete model is still unavailable. It has been shown that the resulting oxide can be either pure SiO2 or mixed oxides (SiO2 + GeO2). As well, the oxidation process can result in a layered structure of both types of oxides. Based on the understanding of the physical phenomena that occur during the oxidation process, we concluded a physical model that encompasses the explanations reported by other researchers as well as some conclusions we derived.