The hole-trapping and electron-trapping characteristics in dry oxides following various chemical cleanings have been studied using the avalanche injection method. The results indicated that hole trap density was almost the same for the chemical cleanings. Electron traps with two capture cross sections, σ, were observed. Electron traps with σ210-17 cm2 were found to be independent of the chemical cleaning, while those with σ410-19 cm2 to depend on the cleaning. Comparison with previous works indicated that electron traps with larger σ were related to Si-OH bonds. The other electron trap showed the increasing trapping rate with increasing the current density injected into oxide. This was explained by trap generation due to electron injection. A correlation between the density of generated electron traps and the amount of Al contamination on surfaces before dry oxidation was observed.

Synchrotron radiation (SR) irradiation of amorphous SiO2 (a-SiO2) induces continuous removal of the SiO2 film without the use of etching gas. The dependence of the photostimulated evaporation rate on substrate temperature and SR intensity was measured and the reaction mechanism is discussed in detail separately for surface and bulk. Using the high material selectivity of the Sr-stimulated evaporation, a sefl-aligned process to fabricate a 0.6 µm line-and-space pattern is presented. Si surface cleaning is demonstrated as an example of application of this reaction to thin native oxide film grown by wet pretreatment. Si(100)-21 and Si(111)-77 structures were observed by reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED) at temperatures as low as 650. The difference between a-SiO2 and native oxide on the evaporation rate is higlighted. Epitaxial Si growth using disilane (Si2H6) gas occurs selectively in the SR-irradiated region on a Si(100) surface. Using SR irradiation in an ultrahigh vacuum, followed by residual oxide reduction by disilane, is proposed as an effective cleaning method.