Title :
Dramatic improvement of hot-electron-induced interface degradation in MOS structures containing F or Cl in SiO/sub 2/
Author :
Nishioka, Yasushiro ; Da Silva, Eronides F., Jr. ; Wang, Yu ; Ma, Tso-Ping
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. Eng., Yale Univ., New Haven, CT, USA
Abstract :
The effects of F and Cl incorporated in SiO/sub 2/ on the susceptibility of the metal/SiO/sub 2/ (MOS) interface to hot-electron damage have been studied. It has been found that, by introducing a very small amount of F or Cl in the thermal SiO/sub 2/, the generation of interface traps by Fowler-Nordheim tunneled hot electrons can be greatly suppressed. In addition, the gate-size dependence of hot-electron-induced interface traps, which is normally observed in samples made of dry oxides, does not appear in such chlorinated or fluorinated samples. When excess amounts of F or Cl are introduced into SiO/sub 2/, however, the benefits mentioned will diminish. The possible roles that F and Cl play that lead to the experimental observations are discussed.<>
Keywords :
chlorine; elemental semiconductors; fluorine; hot carriers; interface electron states; metal-insulator-semiconductor structures; semiconductor-insulator boundaries; silicon; silicon compounds; Fowler Nordheim tunnelling; MOS structures; Si; Si-SiO/sub 2/:Cl; Si-SiO/sub 2/:F; chlorinated oxide; fluorinated oxide; gate-size dependence; hot-electron-induced interface degradation; interface traps; Cleaning; Degradation; Electron traps; Furnaces; Hafnium; Laboratories; MOS capacitors; Microelectronics; Oxidation; Surface treatment;
Journal_Title :
Electron Device Letters, IEEE
