Silicon oxide formation, chemical vapor deposition method

In the processing of integrated circuits, silicon dioxide (SiOa) can be used as a mask during ion implantation or diffusion of impurity into silicon, for passivation, for protection of the device surface, as interlayers for multilevel metallization, or as the active insulating material — the gate oxide film in metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) devices [1, 2], At the present time, several methods have been developed for the formation of Si02 layers, including thermal and chemical oxidation, anodization in electrolyte solutions, and various chemical vapor deposition (CVD) techniques [2, 3],... 

Figure 1 shows the surface imaging system using photogenerated add-catalyzed SiOj formation by the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. Upon irradiation with UV light the surface of polymers having imino sulfonate units becomes hydrophilic because of the formation of sulfonic add. Water sorption firom the atmosphere occurs at the top surface of the irradiated films. When the irradiated surface is exposed to the vapor of alkoxysUanes, a silicon oxide network is formed at the near surface of Ae polymers. No silicon oxide network is formed at unirradiated areas... 

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