The dopant diffusion barrier properties of chemically grown oxide films were characterized in polysilicon. The chemically grown oxide film was grown by immersion of an amorphous Si film in a mixture of H2O2, NH4OH and H2O liquids, heated to 55C. The 4.7Å chemically grown oxide film behaved as a superior dopant diffusion barrier, as compared with a 12.7Å thermally grown oxide film. Compositional analysis showed that the chemically grown oxide film contained 0.4at.%N while the thermally grown oxide had no detectable N. The superior barrier properties of the thinner chemically grown oxide film were attributed to N incorporation.

Dopant Diffusion Barrier Properties of Ultrathin, Chemically Grown Oxide Films. S.B.Herner, V.L.Eckert: Electrochemical and Solid-State Letters, 2006, 9[2], G34-6