Three-Dimensional Simulation of Stress Dependent Thermal Oxidation

We present a sophisticated numerical model for the simulation of thermal oxidation on complex three-dimensional structures. This comprehensive oxidation model takes into account that the diffusion of oxidants, the chemical reaction, and the volume increase occur simultaneously in a so-called reactive layer which has a spatial finite width, in contrast to the sharp interface between silicon and dioxide in the conventional formulation. Our oxidation model also includes the coupled stress dependence of the oxidation process, because the influence of stress is shown to be considerable.