AN OXYGEN TRACER STUDY OF INP OXIDATION

The thermal oxidation process for InP results in a complex, process dependent oxide. From the observed self-limiting behavior of the oxide growth, the rate limiting step is most likely the diffusion of reaction species through the growing oxide film. O-18 marker oxidation experiments with the resulting secondary ion mass spectroscopy depth profiles reveal that the oxidation takes place at the oxide surface by the outward migration of In and P, rather than at the oxide-substrate interface. Based on the available results, possible models for the oxidation are proposed.