Kinetics of thermally oxidation of Ge(100) surface

Thermal oxidation of a Ge(100) surface was investigated by using spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Ge oxide was grown in the temperature range of 375 to 550°C in dry-O2 ambience at atmospheric pressure. Although the Ge-oxide growth rate shows a linear relationship in a log-log plot at a fixed temperature, and the slope indicates an enhancement of GeO desorption at oxidation temperatures over 490°C. The GeO desorption was also confirmed from the XPS analysis of the Si surface which was oxidized simultaneously with the Ge(100) surface. Thus, the Ge thermal oxidation at atmospheric pressure cannot be explained simply by the Deal-Grove model, in which the contribution of thermal desorption of Ge monoxide must be taken into account.