Abstract. Electron neutral collision frequency is measured using both grounded and floating hairpin resonator probes in a 27 MHz parallel plate capacitively coupled plasma (CCP). Operating conditions are 0.1-2 Torr (13.3-267 Pa) in Ar, He, and Ar-He gas mixtures. The method treats the hairpin probe as a two wire transmission line immersed in a dielectric medium. A minimization method is applied during the pressure and sheath correction process by sweeping over assumed collision frequencies in order to obtain the measured collision frequency. Results are compared to hybrid plasma equipment module (HPEM) simulations and show good agreement.

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Using simple physical models, specific relationships between parameters measured by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and those measured on MOS transistors are described for silicon oxynitride gate dielectrics prepared by plasma nitridation. Correlations are established between the equivalent oxide thickness ( ) and gate leakage current and the nitrogen anneal dose and physical thickness as measured by XPS. These correlations, from devices in the 10 to 13 A range, allow accurate estimates of electrical thickness and leakage without device fabrication, enabling both development and process monitoring for sub-130-nm node gate dielectrics. Index Terms-Direct tunneling,, gate dielectric, silicon oxynitride, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.

In situ steam generated (ISSG) oxides have recently attracted interest for use as gate dielectrics because of their demonstrated reliability improvement over oxides formed by dry oxidation. [G. Minor, G. Xing, H. S. Joo, E. Sanchez, Y. Yokota, C. Chen, D. Lopes, and A. Balakrishna, Electrochem. Soc. Symp. Proc. 99-10, 3 (1999); T. Y. Luo, H. N. Al-Shareef, G. A. Brown, M. Laughery, V. Watt, A. Karamcheti, M. D. Jackson, and H. R. Huff, Proc. SPIE 4181, 220 (2000).] We show in this letter that nitridation of ISSG oxide using a remote plasma decreases the gate leakage current of ISSG oxide by an order of magnitude without significantly degrading transistor performance. In particular, it is shown that the peak normalized transconductance of n-channel devices with an ISSG oxide gate dielectric decreases by only 4% and the normalized drive current by only 3% after remote plasma nitridation (RPN). In addition, it is shown that the reliability of the ISSG oxide exhibits only a small degradation after RPN. These observations suggest that the ISSG/RPN process holds promise for gate dielectric applications.