Oxide films of 3-7-nm thickness grown on both Si and SiGe at 400 degreesC in a dielectric barrier discharge source emitting 172 nm photons have exhibited excellent electrical properties - the leakage current densities of 1 X 10(-8) A/cm(2) being obtained at 1 MV/cm for the 3.0-nm thick oxide on SiGe and 3.4X10(-9) A/cm(2) for the 3.2-nm thick oxide on Si. A similar value of similar to5 X 10(-9) A/cm(2) at 1 V bias has been achieved for both oxides with thicknesses in the range of 5.5-7.0 nm. High dielectric strengths with hard breakdown values greater than 16 MV/cm were observed. The oxidations on both substrates has also demonstrated similarly good oxide and interface qualities, showing fixed oxide densities of similar to 10(11) cm(-2) and midgap interface trap densities of similar to 10(11) cm(-2) eV(-1). The oxidation on SiGe was nearly twice as fast as that on Si, giving a growth rate of 0.6 Angstrom/min. The active oxygen species (O and O-) generated by the 172 nm photon-induced reactions not only act as the oxidants but also assist in annihilating the oxygen vacancies and defects in the oxides to improve the leakage properties of the oxides. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.