Plastic flow during thermal oxidation of silicon

Abstract
Is silicon dioxide a viscous liquid or an elastic solid at silicon processing temperatures? Simple calculations using either assumption lead to gross discrepancies with experimental observations. This letter shows that a plastic flow model resolves these discrepancies. Flow develops much sooner than predicted by a linear viscoelastic model. Large deformations (<5%) are accommodated almost entirely by plastic flow. Small deformations are accommodated either elastically or by plastic flow depending on temperature.

This publication has 21 references indexed in Scilit: