Title :
Low temperature growth (400°C) of high-integrity thin silicon-oxynitride films by microwave-excited high-density Kr/O2/NH3 plasma
Author :
Ohtsubo, Kazuo ; Saito, Yuji ; Hirayama, Masaki ; Sugawa, Shi Etoshi ; Aharoni, Herzl ; Ohmi, Tadahiro
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electron. Eng., Tohoku Univ., Sendai, Japan
Abstract :
A drastic reduction of the growth temperature of oxynitride (SiON) films, which are usually grown around 1000°C, is realized by using a microwave-excited high-density Kr/O2/NH3 plasma system, which facilitates growth at 400°C. It is shown that the addition of only a minute amount of nitrogen (0.5% NH3 partial pressure) into a growing SiO2 film results in significant improvements in the performance of both thick (7 nm) films, which operate in the Fowler-Nordheim (F-N) tunneling regime, and thin (3 nm) films, which operate in the direct tunneling regime.
Keywords :
MOS capacitors; current density; dielectric thin films; electric breakdown; insulating thin films; leakage currents; plasma deposition; silicon compounds; tunnelling; 3 nm; 400 C; 7 nm; Fowler-Nordheim tunneling regime; Kr-O2-NH3; MOS capacitors; NH3 partial pressure; SiON; SiON films; breakdown electric field; current density-electric field characteristics; direct tunneling regime; growth temperature reduction; low temperature growth; microwave-excited high-density Kr/O2/NH3 plasma; oxynitride gate insulator films; stress induced leakage current; thick films; thin films; time-to-breakdown; Dielectrics and electrical insulation; Gas insulation; Oxidation; Plasma applications; Plasma density; Plasma measurements; Plasma properties; Plasma temperature; Semiconductor films; Tunneling;
Conference_Titel :
Electrical and Electronics Engineers in Israel, 2002. The 22nd Convention of
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-7693-5
DOI :
10.1109/EEEI.2002.1178381
