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 an (111)Si, a high density of defects was found to form in silicon in samples oxidized in wet O-2. The defects were identified to be of interstitial type with 1/2[011] Burgers vectors. However, no defects were found in silicon after dry oxidation. Metal oxide mixed with SiO2 was found to form at 700 degrees C in samples oxidized in wet O-2. 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.