The effects of postdeposition furnace annealing, at temperatures typical of metal–oxide semiconductor (MOS) fabrication processes, on gate oxides formed by remote plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (remote PECVD) are discussed. SiO2 films were prepared by (1) remote PECVD at substrate temperatures of 200 and 400 °C, and (2) by thermal oxidation of silicon at temperatures from 850 to 1150 °C. Postdeposition thermal processing was carried out in industrial-type diffusion furnaces in both N2/O2 and N2/H2 ambients over a temperature range of 400–1050 °C. Film properties were studied by infrared spectroscopy, ellipsometry, and by measurements of capacitance voltage (C–V) characteristics in MOS device structures. Postdeposition thermal processing at temperatures of 400 °C and above was shown to modify both the structure and electrical properties of deposited SiO2 films. It is shown that changes in the as-deposited film properties occur by two different relaxation mechanisms, one of which is operative in the temperature range up to 750 °C and the other from 750 to 1050 °C, and both of which are different from the viscoelastic relaxation process observed in thermally grown SiO2.

We present an analytic study of the impact of external torque on the formation of ion internal transport barriers (ITBs). A simple analytic relation representing the effect of low external torque on transport bifurcations is derived based on a two field transport model of pressure and toroidal momentum density. It is found that the application of an external torque can either facilitate or hamper bifurcation in heat flux driven plasmas depending on its sign relative to the direction of intrinsic torque. The ratio between radially integrated momentum (i.e., external torque) density to power input is shown to be a key macroscopic control parameter governing the characteristics of bifurcation.