The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 22, 2010
Filed:
Feb. 28, 2008
Tien Ying Luo, Beacon, NY (US);
Ning Liu, Austin, TX (US);
Mohamed S. Moosa, Round Rock, TX (US);
Freescale Semiconductor, Inc., Austin, TX (US);
Abstract
A method of forming a semiconductor device includes providing a substrate for the semiconductor device. A base oxide layer is formed overlying the substrate by applying a rapid thermal oxidation (RTO) of the substrate in the presence of oxygen. A nitrogen-rich region is formed within and at a surface of the base oxide layer. The nitrogen-rich region overlies an oxide region in the base oxide layer. Afterwards, the semiconductor device is annealed in a dilute oxygen and hydrogen-free ambient of below 1 Torr partial pressure of the oxygen. The annealing heals bond damage in both the oxide region and the nitrogen-rich region in the base oxide layer. After annealing the semiconductor device in the dilute oxygen ambient, in-situ steam generation (ISSG) is used to grow and density the oxide region in the base oxide layer at an interface between the substrate and base oxide layer.