Thermal stress at wafer contact points in rapid thermal processing investigated by repeated spike treatment before oxidation

Repeated spike treatment (RST) was used to study thermal stress induced degradation at wafer contacts by annealing the wafer in inert gas before oxidation. Using RST, the transient effect in the rapid thermal processing (RTP) stage was enhanced and the stress caused by the contact points was increased by the applied temperature ramps. Oxide thickness distribution and reliability of metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) devices were found to be affected by silicon wafer defects caused by thermal stress.