Common origin for electron and hole traps in MOS devices

Experimental evidence is provided to show that many electron and hole traps found in ultraclean and annealed SiO2layers are related to intrinsic oxygen deficient defects. These trapping sites are found to play a dominant role in low-field oxide breakdown, radiation sensitivity, and interface state generation in MOS devices. The saturation of SiO2with oxygen leads to the elimination of a large number of these traps and to the stabilization of SiO2layers for use in submicrometer devices.