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In this letter, the dielectric breakdown characteristics of thermal oxides and N2O-based oxynitrides have been studied. A direct correlation was found between dielectric breakdown and the hole current generated within the gate dielectrics. The dependence of dielectric breakdown on oxide thickness was also studied. It was found that both charge-to-breakdown and hole-fluence-to-breakdown for the N2O oxynitrides were higher than those for the thermal oxides throughout the thickness range studied (33–87 Å). The results suggest that N2O oxynitrides can sustain more damage before breakdown and thus have superior dielectric integrity compared to the thermal oxides.

A comprehensive study of P, As, and hybrid As/P nLDD junctions is presented in terms of performance, reliability, and manufacturability for the first time. It is found that As junctions limit the performance of deep submicron devices due to unacceptable hot-carrier reliability, whereas a hybrid junction (light dose P added to medium dose As) dramatically improves hot-carrier reliability while maintaining high performance and manufacturability. For L e of 0.19 m, using this hybrid junction in a manufacturing process, an inverter gate delay of 32 ps, dc hot carrier life time exceeding ten years, and off-state leakage below 30 pA/m at 2.9 V have been achieved.

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Studies of the thickness dependence on stress-induced leakage current (SILC) have been performed in the thickness range of 41 to 87 Å for N2O-annealed and O2-grown oxides. N2O-annealed oxide shows significantly reduced SILC leakage currents. Furthermore, SILC currents were found to increase with decreasing oxide thickness, as reported earlier. However, a ‘‘turn-around’’ effect at ∼50 Å has been observed in these films. SILC currents begin to decrease when oxide thickness is scaled below 50 Å. This turn-around effect can be explained using the trap-assisted tunneling model. For thicknesses equal or less than 41 Å, defect-related current and direct tunneling current become dominant over SILC current. Our results indicated that for N2O-based oxides in the ultrathin thickness regime, stress-induced leakage currents become less significant.