Segregation of implanted As during steam oxidation of Si wafers is shown to result in a highly enriched, thin layer of As at the interface between the oxide and the underlying Si. Also, the oxidation rate was found to increase by as much as a factor of similar to 2 depending on the depth distribution and fluence of the implanted As impurity. The thin As layer collected at the interface can be used in the design of very shallow junctions. This mechanism enables the formation of a narrow, degenerately doped layer of Si, which can be tailored to have a thickness of only few monolayers depending on the fluence of the implantation used. (C) 2009 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.