The diffusion phenomena at the interface between dielectric films and compound semiconductors under 2 kinds of condition (humid or dry thermal) were studied by means of secondary ion mass spectrometry. Under the humid condition - the pressure cooker test at 121C, 100% relative humidity and 2atm – it was confirmed that O diffused into dielectric films of SiNx or SiOxNy from the surface and that both Ga and As diffused into films from GaAs substrates simultaneously. Because such diffusion phenomena did not occur under dry thermal condition at 120C, the diffusion was assumed to be influenced by the existence of water phase. In addition, the selective diffusion of Ga from AlGaAs into SiOx under dry thermal conditions was investigated by rapid thermal annealing. It was found that the diffusion velocities depended on the SiOx growing method and the diffusion into SiOx deposited by sputtering was more remarkable than that by plasma chemical phase deposition

Diffusion Phenomena at the Interface between Dielectric Films and Compound Semiconductors. T.Shiramizu, J.Tanimura, H.Kurokawa, H.Sasaki, S.Abe: Surface and Interface Analysis, 2005, 37[2], 141-4