Silicon Oxynitride and Oxide-Nitride-Oxide Gate Dielectrics by Combined Plasma-Rapid Thermal Processing

Abstract

ABSTRACTWe have used a combination of plasma and rapid thermal processing for the formation of thin gate-dielectric films. The bulk dielectric films investigated include silicon oxide, oxynitride and multilayer oxide-nitride-oxide heterostructures formed by plasma-assisted oxidation, remoteplasma-enhanced chemical-vapor deposition (remote-PECVD) followed by post-deposition rapid thermal annealing (RTA). Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) and infrared absorption spectroscopy (IR) have been used to study the chemistry of interface formation and the bulk dielectric chemical bonding, respectively. Electrical characterization of MOS capacitor structures incorporating these dielectrics was performed by conventional capacitance and current voltage techniques, C-V and I-V, respectively.