It was pointed out that measurements of O-vacancy creation in Si/SiO2/Si structures during high-temperature annealing, which had suggested an activation energy of 1.5eV for the process, had been interpreted in terms of a simple thermodynamic model. It was demonstrated here that this model was inconsistent with thermochemical calculations which had indicated that the energy required for this process was 4.5eV. Another process, which involved thermally-induced O out-diffusion at the SiO2/Si interface, had an effective activation energy, for O-vacancy creation, of about 2.0eV. This was considered to be more consistent with the experimental data.

R.A.B.Devine, W.L.Warren, S.Karna: Journal of Applied Physics, 1998, 83[10], 5591-2