Silicon Oxynitride Layers Fabricated by Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD) for CMOS Devices

Abstract

This work is devoted to the technology and characterization of silicon oxynitride layers (SiOxNy) formed by Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD). In the course of this work thermal stability of deposited layers was also examined. Expected changes in structure, chemical composition and electro-physical properties of the obtained layers were investigated by means of spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) and electrical characterization of manufactured test structures (metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) capacitors and MISFETs). Selected process parameters were chosen to fabricate SiOxNy layers which were introduced into MIS devices with double gate dielectric stack (based of hafnium dioxide). Electrical characterization of such MIS structures with PECVD silicon oxynitride have shown a feasibility of application of obtained system in non-volatile semiconductor memory (NVSM) devices.