HIGH PRESSURE OXIDATION OF INDIUM-PHOSPHIDE: X-RAY PHOTOELECTRON SPECTROSCOPY ANALYSIS AND GROWTH KINETICS (SURFACE ANALYSIS)

Indium Phosphide (InP) is a high mobility, wide bandgap semiconductor which shows great promise as a material for high speed Metal Insulator Semiconductor (MIS) device applications. Presently, however, technological limitations have prevented a viable MIS technology from being realized. In particular, MIS devices fabricated on InP suffer from long time constant trapping at or near the insulator-semiconductor interface. The cause of the long time constant trapping is not known at present, but some data suggests that it is a result of the mixed native oxide present at the insulator-semiconductor interface. The native oxide is typically a mixture of oxides and does not consist of 100% InPO(,4) as predicted by the In-P-O equilibrium phase diagram. This fact suggests that kinetics play an important role in determining the composition of native oxides on InP.;Through the high pressure oxidation studies, it has been established that thermal oxidation of InP at one atmosphere proceeds by outdiffusion of the In and P through the oxide to the surface where oxidation occurs. It also appears that In diffuses much more rapidly than P, resulting in an In rich oxide and a pile-up of P at the semiconductor-oxide interface. For high pressure oxidation in O(,2), the inward diffusion of oxygen is significantly enhanced, however, a mixed oxide still results. High pressure oxidation in steam, due to the high diffusion rate of the H(,2)O molecule, results in an oxide of nearly 100% InPO(,4) which may be useful for device applications. Oxidation in a P rich ambient results in an oxide that is P rich rather than the In rich oxides grown in oxygen and low pressure steam.;In this work, the kinetics of thermal oxidation of InP have been altered through oxidation at high pressure and in steam. The composition of the oxide grown at different pressures and in steam has been examined using X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy and a kinetic based oxidation model for thermal oxidation of InP has been developed. In addition, the effect that oxidation in a P rich ambient has on oxide composition has been studied.