Annealing-temperature dependence of the thermal conductivity of LPCVD silicon-dioxide layers

The authors point out that the reliability and performance of electronic circuits are influenced by heat conduction in low-pressure chemical-vapor-deposited (LPCVD) silicon dioxide layers. Here, the effective thermal conductivity k/sub eff/ for conduction normal to films of LPCVD silicon dioxide layers as a function of annealing temperature, as well as for films of thermal and SIMOX oxides, is measured. The LPCVD oxide thermal conductivity increases by 23% due to annealing at 1150 degrees C. The conductivities k/sub eff/ of LPCVD layers of thicknesses between 0.03 and 0.7 mu m are higher than those reported previously for CVD layers, and vary between 50% and 90% of the conductivities of bulk fused silicon dioxide. The values of SIMOX and thermal oxide layers are within the experimental error of the values for bulk fused silicon dioxide.<>