Fowler-Nordheim Injection in Silicon Dioxide Films Produced by Plasma-Enhanced Chemical Vapour Deposition Using Nitrous Oxide and Silane

        NOTE: FIGURES NOT INCLUDED IN THIS FILE..... High quality silicon dioxide films have been produced using a direct plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition process with silane, nitrous oxide and helium that leaves a nitride layer at the Si-SiO$_2$ interface. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy coupled with etch-back of the films has shown that the interface nitrogen is incorporated by nitridation of the silicon surface. Fowler-Nordheim injection measurements on thin films annealed after deposition for 1 minute at $950^o$C show that the neutral-trap generation and interface state generation rates are comparable to that of thermal oxide if a proper deposition power is chosen. Fast donor states, not $P_b$ centres, account for almost all of the increase in the charge trapped at the interface. Too high deposition powers lead to excessive nitrogen and higher interface state generation rates. It is proposed that improved performance under hot-electron stress could be obtained by using an optimal deposition power to obtain an optimal nitrogen concentration followed by annealing in oxygen.

By: D. Landheer (Nat'l. Res. Council of Can., Ont.), Y. Tao (Nat'l. Res. Council of Can., Ont.), D. X. Xu (Nat'l. Res. Council of Can., Ont.), G. I. Sproule (Nat'l. Res. Council of Can., Ont.) and D. A. Buchanan

Published in: RC19911 in 1995

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