Investigation of electrical conduction in carbon-doped silicon oxide using a voltage ramp method

Abstract

Electrical conduction in carbon-doped silicon oxide (SiOC) is investigated over the electric field range of 0 MV/cm to the breakdown field at 300 K. Below 1.4 MV/cm, the dominant conduction mechanisms are electron hopping (<0.2 MV/cm) and Schottky emission (0.2 to 1.4 MV/cm). Poole–Frenkel emission at higher fields (>1.4 MV/cm) confirms the presence and role of electron traps in the conduction of SiOC. Near breakdown field (1.7 to 2.08 MV/cm), Fowler–Nordheim tunneling occurs and this is the major cause of dielectric breakdown in SiOC. The effective dielectric constant of SiOC in an integrated Cu damascene structure is derived from both experimental data and emission modeling.

Mechanical stress field assisted charge de-trapping in carbon doped oxides

“…In a recent electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) study, Pomorski et al [22] has shown that for a-SiOC:H SE dominates at moderate electric fields (>2.5 MV/cm), but at lower fields, leakage occurs through carbon dangling bond defect populations via other mechanisms such as variable range hopping (VRH). Similar conduction mechanism studies have been carried out for SiOC:H [17] and silicon dioxide [21] thin films as well. Another dominant mechanism for CDOs is the PF mechanism, where the excitation emits electrons from defects or traps into the conduction band of the dielectric.…”

“…2 has logarithmic y axis) with either mechanical or electrical stress. This leaves hopping conduction mechanism, which is known to be in effect for lower values of electrical field strength, where both SE and PF are absent [17]. Here, the charge essentially hops from one trap to other.…”

“…Further details on these mechanisms are reviewed in [2], which also highlights the role of defects (broken or dangling bonds, interstitials). Defects in dielectric materials are well known to trap charges through potential wells and contribute to electrical leakage where the role of the electric field is to excite the trapped electrons out of the well and into the conduction band of the dielectric material [8,17]. Leakage currents, dielectric breakdown and TDDB in low-k dielectrics are all routinely attributed to the presence of defect and trap states and the creation of additional traps/defects during electrical stressing [18].…”

The fabrication of photosensitive self-assembly Au nanoparticles embedded in silica nanofibers by electrospinning

“…However, the existence of carbon in the silica nanofibers, as indicated from the EDX analysis data mentioned above, might account for the marked decrease in resistance. This possible mechanism has been discussed elsewhere [28]. However, the current value for the AuNP peapod silica nanofibers was nearly three times larger than that of the pure silica nanofibers under dark condition, due to the incorporation of AuNPs within the silica nanofibers.…”

Failure mechanism analysis and process improvement on time-dependent dielectric breakdown of Cu/ultra-low-k dielectric based on complementary Raman and FTIR spectroscopy study

“…Many studies have been published to understand the mechanism of the ultra-low-k TDDB failure. [2][3][4][5][6][7] With the hypothesis of the Cu diffusion or the suspected possible degradation or the damage on the low k materials, some models, e.g., E or √ E models were proposed. The first TDDB model could be occurred as a result of electric field induced breakage of weak chemical bonds in the dielectric network, so that new defects called traps are generated.…”