2007 Volume 76 Issue 7 Pages 764-770
High-temperature annealing in hydrogen ambient has recently been found to be effective in the corner rounding and sidewall surface flattening of microstructures on a Si substrate in the context of developing trench-type insulated-gate transistors for power-discrete and IC devices. In this article, how such corner rounding and sidewall surface flattening progress in micron-sized trenches is described. The atomic-scale description of these phenomena is given, providing both experimental and theoretical results obtained by sectional Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and surface Atomic Force Microscope (AFM). An engineering guideline is also presented for the nanoscale-architectural control of the corner rounding and sidewall surface flattening in Si trenches.
