WET THERMAL-OXIDATION OF ALXGA1-XAS COMPOUNDS

Results are presented on the wet thermal oxidation of AlxGa1-xAs. The growth of wet thermal oxides of AlxGa1-xAs is shown to be linear with time. An O-2 carrier gas was found to form a self-terminating oxide for compositions investigated (x>0.4), but required elevated temperatures for substantial growth. The use of a medium oxygen concentration (similar to 20%) in a N-2 carrier formed nonuniform oxides for all compositions investigated. A low O-2 concentration (0.1%) in the N-2 carrier was found to reduce the activation energy of the oxidation process for Al0.6Ga0.4As from 1.9 to 1.0 eV while increasing the activation energy of Al0.8Ga0.2As from 1.6 to 1.75 eV. For these wet thermal oxides it is observed that lateral oxidation at heterojunction interfaces is enhanced. This enhanced lateral oxidation can be attributed to local stress due to the smaller volume of the growing oxide compared to the volume of the consumed semiconductor.