TRANSMISSION ELECTRON-MICROSCOPY CHARACTERIZATION OF DEFECTS RESULTING FROM THE POLYCRYSTALLINE SILICON BUFFERED LOCAL OXIDATION OF SILICON ISOLATION PROCESS

Polybuffered LOCOS is used for isolation of active devices in submicron integrated circuits. Many papers have reported on the defects resulting from this process. We report, for the first time, on the structure and composition of these defects and relate the defects to a phenomenon similar to the traditional Kooi effect [E. Kooi, J. G. van Lierop, and J. A. Apples, J. Electrochem. Soc. 123, 1117 (1976)].