Effects of titanium salicide process on oxide charge trapping and hot-electron reliability in submicron MOS devices for VLSI

We have found that the device fabricated by titanium salicide process is more resistant to high field induced hot-electron degradation than the conventional poly gate device. Furthermore, constant I-V measurements show that the silicided device has less electron and hole trapping in the oxide than the poly gate device, implying a less oxide breakdown susceptibility(2). This less trapping in the oxide and higher immunity to the high field induced hot-electron degradation seems to be related to the lower hydrogen content in the titanium silicided device than in the poly gate device as revealed by SIMS study. Besides the advantages mentioned at the beginning of this paper(1), the less tapping and better hot-electron reliability observed in this study make the titanium salicide process even more attractive than the conventional poly gate technology for submicron VLSI applications.