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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 February 2011
We present a novel oxidation method to improve the surface roughness at the poly-oxide/poly-Si interface. Instead of directly oxidizing the poly-Si to the desired thickness of the SiO2, a thin oxide layer is thermally grown on the poly-Si layer and then an a-Si layer is deposited on the top of the oxide layer. The a-Si layer is used as a silicon-source during next step of oxidation. The a-Si layer is fully oxidized until the poly-oxide/poly-Si interface advances below the initial interface. For comparison, the poly-oxide/poly-Si interface is also obtained by the conventional oxidation method. The surface roughness at the interface is investigated using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). For the novel oxidation method with the 50 Å thick intermediate oxide, the rms surface roughness at the poly-oxide/poly-Si interface is 30 Å, whereas that is 120 Å for the conventional method.