Method of manufacturing silicon rich oxide (sro) and semiconductor device employing sro

Abstract

Provided are methods for manufacturing silicon rich oxide (SRO) layers useful in the fabrication of semiconductor devices, for example, non-volatile memory devices, and methods for fabricating semiconductor devices incorporating such SRO layers. The methods include absorbing a first silicon source gas onto the substrate, oxidizing the first absorbed layer to form a silicon oxide layer, absorbing a second silicon source gas onto the substrate and reducing the second absorbed layer to form a silicon layer. The combination of the silicon oxide layer(s) and the silicon layer(s) comprise, in turn, a composite SRO layer. These manufacturing methods facilitate control of the oxygen concentration in the SRO, the relative thicknesses of the silicon oxide and silicon layers, and provides improved step coverage, thus allowing the manufacturing of high quality semiconductor devices.