Impact of nitrogen doping on gate oxide integrity on 300 mm silicon wafers after RTP in hydrogen ambient

300 mm silicon wafers with nitrogen content >1.0×10¹⁵ at/cm³ and without nitrogen doping (reference group) were subjected to a rapid thermal annealing process in an atmosphere of 60% hydrogen in argon. The gate oxide integrity (GOI) improvement of the annealed nitrogen-doped wafers was investigated and compared to the reference group. Additionally, the depth dependence of the GOI-improvement by annealing was evaluated. At 200 nm depth the defect density of the RTP-treated wafer was again comparable to the respective reference wafer defect density. The defect morphology change induced by hydrogen RTP was investigated via AFM measurements.