Stress in Silicon Oxide Thin Films Grown by Dry Thermal Oxidation

Dry thermal oxidation is performed at 900, 950, 1000, and 1050 C in fused silica tube furnace (Sandvik)for 10, 20, 50, 100 and 200 min. The properties of the thin-films such as refractive index and stress arestudied in this paper. Refractive indexes of the thin-films are obtained using ellipsometer and decreasesfrom 1.78 to 1.46 as the film thickness increases.Stress of the thin-films is theoretically calculated,experimentally measured and then compared.Stress is calculated theoretically using Stoney’s stressequation and Goklaney’s stress equations. Stress is measured experimentally using the profilometer. Ex-perimentally measured stress and refractive indexes are then compared to discuss the density of the thin-films.