Dry oxidation of silicon is typically used to grow a thin, high quality oxide that is used in transistor gates and capacitors. Oxide grown in dry oxygen ambient has excellent insulating properties and is denser, free of defects. Wet oxidation of silicon is typically used to grow thick oxides that are used as diffusion barriers. Silicon dioxide acts as an effective mask against many impurities, allowing dopants into silicon only in regions that are not covered with oxide.

The oxide thickness grown on silicon is dependent on the oxidation time and temperature. Wet oxidation method offers faster growth rate compared to dry oxidation. The linear and parabolic rate constants have larger values in wet oxidation case than in case of dry oxidation. This is because equilibrium concentration of oxidizing species in oxide () is approximately three orders of magnitude greater for water than in dry oxygen. Therefore, for growing thick oxide within a realistic time, wet oxidation is a better choice.

The linear and parabolic rate constants increase with temperature in both dry and wet oxidation methods. B increases in both cases through the diffusion coefficient (D) increase due to temperature. The reason for increase in is through k_s.