High quality ultrathin silicon oxynitride films (3.5 nm) have been grown in a nitric oxide ambient using rapid thermal processing. The physical and electrical properties of these films are compared with those formed in a nitrous oxide environment. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) results show that the nitric oxide (NO) grown films have a significantly different nitrogen distribution compared to the nitrious oxide (N2O) grown films. The capacitance-voltage and current-voltage characteristics of the NO grown and NO-modified films are, in general, better than those of the same thickness grown in either N2O or O2.

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The three different interface state annealing processes widely used in MOS technology have been investigated using both quasistatic capacitance-voltage measurements and MOST characteristics. It appears that annealing in a hydrogen-nitrogen and a wet nitrogen ambient is found to produce a more rapid reduction of the interface state density. The latter process is, however, more likely to cause ionic contamination of the oxide. For the achievement of the minimum interface state density with any of the three annealing treatments a 1000 degrees C anneal in dry nitrogen after oxidation is found to be essential.

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