Dielectric integrity of thin thermal oxides on silicon

The role of silicon dioxide layers in microelectronics and the importance of their integrity are undisputable. From passivating coatings and masking layers for diffusion to ultra-thin tunneling films — all the silicon technology could not exist without silicon dioxide. This review deals with some aspects of the integrity of thin silicon dioxide films for VLSI applications. The problems of dielectric strength and wear-out are considered from the point of view of their mechanisms, models, oxide processing dependence, testing, and measuring. A brief presentation of statistical approaches commonly applied to reliability topics is also included.