Excess silicon at the silicon nitride/thermal oxide interface in oxide–nitride–oxide structures

Gritsenko, V. V.; Wong, Hung; Xu, Jianbin; Kwok, R. M.; Petrenko, I. P.; Zaitsev, B. А.; Morokov, Yu. N.; Novikov, Yu. N.

doi:10.1063/1.371195

Cited by 80 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…19,25 In the following, we propose a mechanism for the unexpected broadening of the EBISA deposits on the membrane: In a first step, electrons are ejected upon high energy electron irradiation, mainly due to SE emission. In a second step, the resulting holes accumulate at the SiO 2 /Si 3 N 4 interface, which is a Si-enriched silicon oxynitride with a thickness of $0.6-0.8 nm, 26,27 and which is well known to trap charges. [26][27][28][29] Due to the Si enrichment, the interface should be more conductive than the SiO 2 or the Si 3 N 4 layer.…”

Section: -mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In a second step, the resulting holes accumulate at the SiO 2 /Si 3 N 4 interface, which is a Si-enriched silicon oxynitride with a thickness of $0.6-0.8 nm, 26,27 and which is well known to trap charges. [26][27][28][29] Due to the Si enrichment, the interface should be more conductive than the SiO 2 or the Si 3 N 4 layer. Therefore, a radial transport of the holes along this Si-enriched interface occurs, even to areas beyond BSE emission.…”

Section: -mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Investigation of proximity effects in electron microscopy and lithography

Walz

Vollnhals

Rietzler

et al. 2012

Applied Physics Letters

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A novel apparatus for in situ compression of submicron structures and particles in a high resolution SEM Rev. Sci. Instrum. 83, 095105 (2012) Foucault imaging by using non-dedicated transmission electron microscope Appl. Phys. Lett. 101, 093101 (2012) New Products Rev. Sci. Instrum. 83, 079501 (2012) Towards secondary ion mass spectrometry on the helium ion microscope: An experimental and simulation based feasibility study with He+ and Ne+ bombardment

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Section: -mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: -mentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigation of proximity effects in electron microscopy and lithography

Walz

Vollnhals

Rietzler

et al. 2012

Applied Physics Letters

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“…The hole capturing on a Si-Si bond plays an important role in silicon devices with oxynitride as the gate dielectric [36]. Si-Si bonds were observed experimentally at the Si 3 N 4 / termal oxide interface [21]. Excess hole and electron capturings at the interface were also found [37,38].…”

Section: Va Gritsenko Yun Novikov Av Shaposhnikov Hei Wong mentioning

confidence: 97%

“…In addition, if the distance between two defects is about 3.1Å, other mechanisms for the carrier localization are also possible. It was suggested that the electron and hole capturing could also occur at a neutral diamagnetic ≡ Si−Si ≡ defect [2,4,10,20,21]. The validity of these two models for Si 3 N 4 is still under discussion.…”

Section: (Received 30 January 2003)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Capturing properties of a threefold coordinated silicon atom in silicon nitride: Positive correlation energy model

et al. 2003

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Electronic structure and capturing properties of three-fold coordinated silicon atom (≡ Si·) and the Si-Si bond in silicon nitride (Si 3 N 4 ) were studied using the ab initio density functional theory. The results show that the previously proposed negative correlation energy (NCE) model is not applicable to Si 3 N 4 . The NCE model was proposed for interpreting the absence of the ESR signal for three-fold coordinated silicon defects and suggested that an electron can transfer between two silicon defects. We proposed that the absence of this ESR signal is due to the creation of neutral diamagnetic Si-Si defects in Si 3 N 4 . This model offers the most fundamental theory for explaining the hole localization (memory) effect in silicon nitride.This work is partially supported by research project N 7001134 of City U.Carrier capturing in localized states or localization of electrons or holes is a fundamental process that governs the electronic properties of many amorphous solids, such as amorphous silicon, amorphous chalcogenides (a-Se, a-As 2 S 3 ) and silicon nitride (Si 4 N 4 ) films [1-4]. Particularly, amorphous Si 3 N 4 is the most common material for observing this phenomenon as it has a gigantic cross-section (5 × 10 −13 cm) for carrier capturing. An electron or a hole, being injected into the Si 3 N 4 film, can be captured by a deep trap with a lifetime in the localized state of more than 10 years at room temperature [4]. This localization property is treated as memory effect from the application point of view. Its practical application is the use of amorphous Si 3 N 4 as a gate dielectric in the SONOS (silicon-oxide-nitrideoxide-semiconductor) field effect transistors. Although this memory effect has been discovered for more than thirty years and is widely used in modern silicon devices [2,[4][5][6][7][8], the exact nature and the kind of defects responsible for the carrier localization in the nitride film is still controversial. However, we already had a consensus that the localization of electrons and holes in the Si 3 N 4 film is related to the intrinsic defects created by the excess silicon atoms [2,4,8,9].The intrinsic defects in amorphous solids are believed to be due to the dangling bonds. However, most of the defects could not be detected with the electron spin resonance (ESR) measurement in a number of amorphous semiconductors and wide-gap polar dielectrics such as amorphous SiO 2 and Si 3 N 4 films [1-4,10]. The signal for N 3 Si· defect in silicon nitride, a three-fold coordinated silicon atom with unpaired electron, could be detected with ESR only after ultraviolet irradiation [11]. For freshly synthesized nitride film, no related ESR signal can be detected. This observation was explained with the negative correlation energy (NCE) model [12,13]. This model suggested that two diamagnetic defects: a positively charged N 3 Si + and a negatively charged N 3 Si − :, can be formed from a N 3 Si· (paramagnetic neutral defects in Si 3 N 4 ) pair via the following reaction,In the NCE model, the repulsive...

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“…µÏÇÐßÛÇÐËÇ ÕÑÎÜËÐÞ ÑÕ 8 AEÑ 2 ÐÏ ÔÑÒÓÑÄÑÉAEÂÇÕÔâ ÖÄÇÎËÚÇÐËÇÏ ÒÑÍÂÊÂÕÇÎâ ÒÓÇÎÑÏÎÇÐËâ ÑÕ 1,52 AEÑ 2,0. ±ÑAEÑÃÐÞÌ à××ÇÍÕ ÐÂÃÎá-AEÂÎÔâ ÓÂÐÇÇ ¤ÑÐÑÐÑÏ Ô ÔÑÂÄÕÑÓÂÏË [13].¯Â ÓËÔÖÐÍÇ 2Â 6 ÊÄÇÐßÇÄ, n 1,57 [18,19] ²ËÔ. 14.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Structure of silicon/oxide and nitride/oxide interfaces

Gritsenko¹

2009

Uspekhi Fizicheskikh Nauk

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®ÇÕÑAEÑÏ ËÐ×ÓÂÍÓÂÔÐÑÌ ( ²ËÔ. 14. £ÑÎßÕ-ÂÏÒÇÓÐÂâ ØÂÓÂÍÕÇÓËÔÕËÍÂ ÔÕÓÖÍÕÖÓÞ SiaSiO x N y aAl, ËÊÏÇÓÇÐÐÂâ ÒÓË ÍÑÏÐÂÕÐÑÌ ÕÇÏÒÇÓÂÕÖÓÇ. SiO2Si Silicon/dielectric (Si/SiO2, SiaSiO x N y ) and dielectric/dielectric (Si3N4/SiO2) interfaces that are at the heart of modern silicon technology are reviewed for what is currently known about their electronic structure.

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Excess silicon at the silicon nitride/thermal oxide interface in oxide–nitride–oxide structures

Cited by 80 publications

References 32 publications

Investigation of proximity effects in electron microscopy and lithography

Investigation of proximity effects in electron microscopy and lithography

Capturing properties of a threefold coordinated silicon atom in silicon nitride: Positive correlation energy model

Structure of silicon/oxide and nitride/oxide interfaces

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