Current—Voltage Measurements of Thermally Grown SiO2 Films on Etched Silicon Surfaces

V. V. Ramana, N. M. Ravindra, M. F. Leahy

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Experimental results of the current—voltage (I‐U) measurements of thermaly grown thin SiO2 films on virgin and plasma etched silicon surfaces are reported. The I‐U measurements include static I‐U and dynamic I‐U or time dependent dielectric breakdowns (TDDB). The structures used in this study are Al/Polysilicon/SiO2/Si/Al capacitors fabricated on n‐Si and p‐Si substrates. These capacitors, ranging in areas from 0.001 to 0.05 cm2, were made using various plasma process conditions and etch reactors. Two different processing sequences are presented. The first process uses a sacrificial oxidation step after the initial plasma exposure (grow a thermal oxide, strip the oxide, and regrow an oxide). The second does not include the sacrificial oxidation. A constant current probe technique is used for evaluating the breakdown behavior of MOS capacitors. 1 m̈A is used as the standard test current for the analysis. Based on preliminary studies for the control samples, the density of defects is found to be ≈ 2 cm−2 for the former case and 4 cm−2 for the latter one. Overall, the results obtained show that sacrificial oxidation improves oxide integrity, yields higher breakdown fields, and minimizes defect densities.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)291-300
Number of pages10
Journalphysica status solidi (a)
Volume129
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 16 1992

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
  • Condensed Matter Physics

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