Controlling the concentration and position of nitrogen in ultrathin oxynitride films formed by using oxygen and nitrogen radicals

The outstanding properties of SiO 2 , which include high resistivity, excellent dielectric strength, a large band gap, a high melting point, and a native, low defect density interface with Si, are in large part responsible for enabling the microelectronics revolution. The Si/SiO 2 interface, which forms the heart of the modern metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor, the building block of the integrated circuit, is arguably the worlds most economically and technologically important materials interface. This article summarizes recent progress and current scientific understanding of ultrathin ͑Ͻ4 nm͒ SiO 2 and Si-ON ͑silicon oxynitride͒ gate dielectrics on Si based devices. We will emphasize an understanding of the limits of these gate dielectrics, i.e., how their continuously shrinking thickness, dictated by integrated circuit device scaling, results in physical and electrical property changes that impose limits on their usefulness. We observe, in conclusion, that although Si microelectronic devices will be manufactured with SiO 2 and Si-ON for the foreseeable future, continued scaling of integrated circuit devices, essentially the continued adherence to Moore's law, will necessitate the introduction of an alternate gate dielectric once the SiO 2 gate dielectric thickness approaches ϳ1.2 nm. It is hoped that this article will prove useful to members of the silicon microelectronics community, newcomers to the gate dielectrics field, practitioners in allied fields, and graduate students. Parts of this article have been adapted from earlier articles by the authors ͓L.

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“…702 Nitrogen profile engineering has also been accomplished using an O and N radical deposition technique. 703…”

Section: B N Incorporation and Removal During N 2 O Oxynitridationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ultrathin (<4 nm) SiO2 and Si–O–N gate dielectric layers for silicon microelectronics: Understanding the processing, structure, and physical and electrical limits

Green¹,

Gusev

Degraeve

et al. 2001

Journal of Applied Physics

746

345

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“…More recently, higher N concentrations and controlled distributions have been attained by plasma assisted methods, typically using ions and radicals derived from N 2 and NH 3 as nitrogen sources. 5 Although the control of both the density and the distribution of nitrogen into SiO 2 have been achieved at few-layer level, less is known about the early stages of the N-incorporation reactions at atomic level.…”

Section: Walter Orellana A)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Energetic of nitrogen incorporation reactions in SiO2

Orellana

2004

Applied Physics Letters

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“…Therefore, for example, atomic nitrogen incorporation into ultrathin SiO 2 films in plasmaassisted processes is of great importance in the microsemiconductor industry. 5,6 Nevertheless, there are no detailed collisional data on O and N adsorption on silica and oxide surfaces, whereas considerable experimental and theoretical activity has been devoted to inelastic scattering of atoms (mainly noble gases) from metallic surfaces. 7,8 On the theoretical side, different kinetics schemes [9][10][11] have been applied to describe the kinetics of the chemistry at the gas-silica interface and then to simulate and predict the thermal response of silica or other TPS materials.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oxygen Adsorption on β-Cristobalite Polymorph: Ab Initio Modeling and Semiclassical Time-Dependent Dynamics

et al. 2009

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The adsorption dynamics of atomic oxygen on a model beta-cristobalite silica surface has been studied by combining ab initio electronic structure calculations with a molecular dynamics semiclassical approach. We have evaluated the interaction potential of atomic and molecular oxygen interacting with an active Si site of a model beta-cristobalite surface by performing DFT electronic structure calculations. As expected, O is strongly chemisorbed, E(b) = 5.57 eV, whereas molecular oxygen can be weakly adsorbed with a high-energy barrier to the adsorption state of approximately 2 eV. The binding energies calculated for silica clusters of different sizes have revealed the local nature of the O,O(2)-silica interaction. Semiclassical collision dynamic calculations show that O is mainly adsorbed in single-bounce collisions, with a smaller probability for adsorption via a multicollision mechanism. The probability for adsorption/desorption (reflected) collisions at the three impact energies is small but not negligible at the higher energy considered in the trajectory calculations, about P(r) = 0.2 at E(kin) = 0.8 eV. The calculations give evidence of a complex multiphonon excitation-deexcitation mechanism underlying the dynamics of stable adsorption and inelastic reflection collisions.

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Controlling the concentration and position of nitrogen in ultrathin oxynitride films formed by using oxygen and nitrogen radicals

Cited by 17 publications

References 7 publications

Ultrathin (<4 nm) SiO2 and Si–O–N gate dielectric layers for silicon microelectronics: Understanding the processing, structure, and physical and electrical limits

Ultrathin (<4 nm) SiO2 and Si–O–N gate dielectric layers for silicon microelectronics: Understanding the processing, structure, and physical and electrical limits

Energetic of nitrogen incorporation reactions in SiO2

Oxygen Adsorption on β-Cristobalite Polymorph: Ab Initio Modeling and Semiclassical Time-Dependent Dynamics

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Controlling the concentration and position of nitrogen in ultrathin oxynitride films formed by using oxygen and nitrogen radicals

Cited by 17 publications

References 7 publications

Ultrathin (&lt;4 nm) SiO2 and Si–O–N gate dielectric layers for silicon microelectronics: Understanding the processing, structure, and physical and electrical limits

Ultrathin (&lt;4 nm) SiO2 and Si–O–N gate dielectric layers for silicon microelectronics: Understanding the processing, structure, and physical and electrical limits

Energetic of nitrogen incorporation reactions in SiO2

Oxygen Adsorption on β-Cristobalite Polymorph: Ab Initio Modeling and Semiclassical Time-Dependent Dynamics

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Ultrathin (<4 nm) SiO2 and Si–O–N gate dielectric layers for silicon microelectronics: Understanding the processing, structure, and physical and electrical limits

Ultrathin (<4 nm) SiO2 and Si–O–N gate dielectric layers for silicon microelectronics: Understanding the processing, structure, and physical and electrical limits