Inherent density of point defects in thermal tensile strained (100)Si∕SiO2 entities probed by electron spin resonance

Abstract

An electron spin resonance analysis has been carried out of the intrinsic point defects in (100)Si∕SiO2 entities thermally grown at 800°C on biaxial tensile strained Si (s-Si). As compared to coprocessed standard (100)Si∕SiO2, a significant reduction (>50%) is observed in the inherent density of the trivalent Pb-type interface defects (Pb0,Pb1). With the Pb0’s established as detrimental fast interface traps, this result may adduce one more reason for the observed enhancement of device channel carrier mobility with increasing Si substrate tensile strain as well as reduction in 1∕f noise. The s-Si∕SiO2 interface exhibits a generally superior device grade quality.

Does Strain Engineering Impact the Gate Stack Quality and Reliability?

“…Therefore, it was postulated that the reduced LF noise is related to an improved oxide quality when an oxide is grown on tensile-strained Si. Recently, this has been confirmed by ESR measurements of the point defects in (100)Si/SiO 2 grown at 800 o C on biaxially strained Si [26]. As shown in Fig.…”

Review—Device Assessment of Electrically Active Defects in High-Mobility Materials

“…6b. 73 This strain-related improvement of the low-frequency noise is only observed if the used processing is not leading to a Ge out diffusion toward the surface 74,75 or the presence of threading dislocations in the device. [76][77][78] Another approach to lower the threading dislocation density formed in strain relaxed SiGe buffer layers is based on the use of an ion implanted buried layer in the Si substrate containing nanobubbles formed by the implantation of He or H and a low temperature anneal step.…”

Effect of Ge-Nanoislands on the Low-Frequency Noise in Si/SiO_x/Ge Structures

“…where x 2 =3 nm, x 0 =0.1 nm, k is the Boltzmann constant, T is the temperature, L is the distance between probes. For the case of Si/SiO x structures with Ge-nanoclusters, the value of trap concentration x 0 D 0 was found to be about (8×10 16 -10 18 ) cm -2 eV -1 , that is extremely higher than the typical values x 0 D 0 =10 10 cm -2 eV -1 required for the Si/SiO 2 interface [10,11]. These results point to the fact that the picture is rather complicated.…”