A mechanism for gate oxide damage in nonuniform plasmas

Author

Fang, Sychyi ; McVittie, James P.

Author_Institution

Center for Integrated Syst., Stanford Univ., CA, USA

fYear

1993

Firstpage

13

Lastpage

17

Abstract

Plasma damage in the form of early breakdown observed after exposing antenna capacitor structures to an O/sub 2/ plasma in a single wafer resist asher is discussed. Plasma nonuniformity was characterized using a Langmuir probe. Using SPICE, a circuit model for the test structure, and the plasma measurements, the Fowler-Nordheim current through the thin oxide regions at different points on the wafer was calculated and found to agree well with the observed damage. The role of device structure can also be explained with this model. The damage was consistent with a hole induced breakdown mechanism.<>

Keywords

SPICE; electric breakdown of solids; failure analysis; semiconductor process modelling; sputter etching; surface treatment; tunnelling; Fowler-Nordheim current; Langmuir probe; SPICE; antenna capacitor structures; circuit model; early breakdown; gate oxide damage; hole induced breakdown mechanism; nonuniform plasmas; plasma etching; plasma processing; single wafer resist asher; Electrons; Plasma applications; Plasma devices; Plasma materials processing; Plasma measurements; Plasma sheaths; Plasma temperature; Semiconductor device modeling; Surface charging; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Reliability Physics Symposium, 1993. 31st Annual Proceedings., International

Conference_Location

Atlanta, GA, USA

Print_ISBN

0-7803-0782-8

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/RELPHY.1993.283310

Filename

283310