Challenges in ultrathin oxide layers formation

In near future silicon technology cannot do without ultrathin oxides, as it becomes clear from the "Roadmap'2000". Formation, however, of such layers, creates a lot of technical and technological problems. The aim of this paper is to present the technological methods, that potentially can be used for formation of ultrathin oxide layers for next generations ICs. The methods are briefly described and their pros and cons are discussed.