The oxidation behaviors of MoSi2 on (111)Si

A transmission electron microscopy study of oxidation behavior of MoSi2 on (111)Si has been carried out. For a 180 nm thick MoSi2 layer on (111)Si, a high density of defects was found to form in silicon in samples oxidized in wet O2. The defects were identified to be of interstitial type with 12〈011〉 Burgers vectors. However, no defects were found in silicon after dry oxidation. Metal oxide mixed with SiO2 was found to form at 700°C in samples oxidized in wet O2. The parabolic activation energies were found to be 1.4 (±0.15) eV and 1.2 (±0.2) eV for dry and wet oxidation, respectively.