High Temperature Oxidation as a Production Route for Electronic Materials

Oxidation of metallic components often results in degradation and structural failure, preven-tion is therefore an important topic. On the other hand, oxidation process creates new products such as metal oxides, can be used as a production route. A well-known process in semiconductor industry is that oxidation in dry or wet atmosphere is a popular way for growth of multi-functional SiO films on Si wafers. Recently, oxidation processes under controlled conditions (atmosphere, temperature, and time) are used to prepare various oxides, carbides, or nitrides with micro-/nano-structures, well-defined composition, di-mension, shape and properties. The use of oxidation now includes thin film and nano-/micro-sized devices, and porous oxides for sensing and catalysis purposes. This paper introduces the research activities in the authors' group on applications of oxidation as a tool for synthesis of functional materials.