A study of thermally oxidized SiO2 surface layers by means of nuclear reactions

Conclusions The nuclear reaction from low-energy deuteron-bombardment has proved to be a valuable tool for surface oxide layer examination. Using the¹⁶O(d, p)¹⁷O and¹⁶O(d, α)¹⁴N reactions, some important properties of Si−SiO₂ structures, such as total number of oxygen nuclei and oxygen concentration profile, can be determined in one measurement with an accuracy of several percent, within one hour. Some effects of oxygen deficiency in SiO₂ layers of thicknesses exceeding 6000 ? have been found. A more detailed study of this effect will be the subject of forth-coming experiments.