Low-energy nitrogen plasmas for 65-nm node oxynitride gate dielectrics: a correlation of plasma characteristics and device parameters

Kraus, P.; Ahmed, K.; Chua, Thai Cheng; Ershov, M.; Karbasi, H.; Olsen, C.; Nouri, F.; Holland, J.; Zhao, Richard; Miner, G.; Lepert, Arnaud

doi:10.1109/vlsit.2003.1221126

Cited by 14 publications

(11 citation statements)

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“…Observed nonlinearity of this plot contradicts the linear variation used in [3], [15]- [18] even for uniformly dosed nitrided dielectric. Now, the plasma-nitrided samples studied in this paper have [N] peak near polygate [13], [15], [21]. The XPS measurement of %N for these samples, therefore, overestimates %N in the film [21].…”

Section: B Variation Of Parameters With %Nmentioning

confidence: 83%

“…Sample preparation for devices used in this paper are discussed in detail in [13] and [15] and will not be repeated here. Physical thickness (T PHY ) and %N for the PNO samples are determined using X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) [21] with repeatability better than 3% and 2% for T PHY and %N , respectively [15].…”

Section: Experimental Detailmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…NBTI occurs mainly in PMOS devices under negative-voltage stress and is enhanced by inclusion of nitrogen in gate dielectrics [4]- [11]. In general, numerous studies have established the importance of the nitrogen spatial profile in dictating the boron penetration and NBTI characteristics [4], [5], [12], [13]. Such studies show that reduction of both NBTI and boron penetration requires a nitrogen profile having (comparatively) lower nitrogen near substrate-dielectric interface (for optimum NBTI) and higher nitrogen near gate-dielectric interface (for reduced boron penetration).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Plasma nitridation with decreasing nitrogen concentration from poly-Si/dielectric interface to substrate/dielectric interface, therefore, became an ideal choice [5], [12], [14] for oxynitride gate dielectrics. Adjustment of nitrogen profile within the dielectric of devices having plasma-nitrided oxide (PNO) ensures improved device performance in terms of boron penetration and NBTI, even down to an effective oxide thickness (EOT) of 1.1 nm [12], [13].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, among the three design considerations (gate leakage, boron penetration, and NBTI) for PNO devices, several studies reported the gate leakage versus boron penetration [2]- [4] and boron penetration versus NBTI [4], [5], [12], [13] issues. However, the remaining, and perhaps equally important, optimization of gate leakage and NBTI (the topic of this paper) has never been considered.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Optimization of Gate Leakage and NBTI for Plasma-Nitrided Gate Oxides by Numerical and Analytical Models

Islam

Gupta

Ahmed

et al. 2008

IEEE Trans. Electron Devices

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Abstract-Reduction in static-power dissipation (gate leakage) by using nitrided oxides comes at the expense of enhanced negative-bias temperature instability (NBTI). Therefore, determining the nitrogen content in gate oxides that can simultaneously optimize gate-leakage and NBTI degradation is a problem of significant technological relevance. In this paper, we experimentally and theoretically analyze wide range of gate-leakage and NBTI stress data from a variety of plasma-oxynitride gate dielectric devices to establish an optimization scheme for gate-leakage and NBTI degradation. Calculating electric fields and leakage current both numerically and using simple analytical expressions, we demonstrate a design diagram for arbitrary nitrogen concentration and effective oxide thickness that may be used for process and IC design.Index Terms-Gate leakage, negative-bias temperature instability (NBTI), optimization, plasma-oxynitride dielectric, quantummechanical (QM) effects, reaction-diffusion (R-D) model.

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