Improvement in radiation hardness of gate oxides in metal-oxide semiconductor devices by repeated rapid thermal oxidations in N2O
Journal
Applied Physics Letters
Journal Volume
64
Journal Issue
23
Pages
3136-3138
Date Issued
1994
Author(s)
Abstract
Instead of using the conventional one-time N2O oxidation of silicon, repeated N2O rapid thermal oxidations (RNRTO) is proposed as a new gate oxide preparation method. The radiation hardness of metal�Voxide semiconductor (MOS) capacitors with RNRTO oxide is found to be better than that with the conventional one-time N2O-grown oxide. The nitrogen content at the SiO2/Si interface as determined by secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) is constant for all the RNRTO samples but the thickness of the nitrogen-rich interfacial layer increases as the number of RNRTO increases. The less strain gradient caused by this increasing nitrogen-rich interfacial layer thickness is the main cause of improving the radiation hardness of the MOS capacitors.
Type
journal article