High quality ultrathin dielectric films grown on silicon in a nitric oxide ambient

Abstract

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.

Nitridation of silicon-dioxide films grown on 6H silicon carbide

“…However, they could not demonstrate an improvement in the interface characteristics of N grown oxides on N-type SiC. Having observed a number of differences in the effects of NO and N O 0741-3106/97$10.00 © 1997 IEEE on oxides grown on Si [9], [18], [19], we decided to anneal oxides grown on SiC in both NO and N O atmosphere. We also included the both N-type and P-type SiC substrates.…”

Interfacial characteristics of N2O and NO nitrided SiO2 grown on SiC by rapid thermal processing

“…Although considerable work has been reported on the growth of SiO 2 on SiC using dry and wet oxidation processes with postannealing in nitrogen or argon, 2-6 little work has been reported so far on the nitridation of oxides grown on SiC. As nitridation of oxides grown on Si wafers leads to an improved SiO 2 /Si interface, [7][8][9] it is very important to study the effects of nitridation on oxides grown on SiC. We recently reported the capacitance-voltage (C -V) measurement of N 2 O and NO nitridation of SiO 2 grown on 6H-SiC.…”

Monolayer-level controlled incorporation of nitrogen at Si–SiO2 interfaces using remote plasma processing

“…[1][2][3][4][5] Techniques for the incorporation of nitrogen at the Si-SiO 2 interface fall into six broad categories. These are: ͑i͒ interface nitridation by thermal annealing of the SiO 2 in an ammonia ͑NH 3 ), 6,7 nitrous oxide ͑N 2 O͒ 8,9 or nitric oxide ͑NO͒ 10,11 ambients, ͑ii͒ direct thermal oxidation/ nitridation of the Si surface in N 2 O 12,13 or NO, 14 ͑iii͒ ion implantation of N 2 into the Si substrate followed by the thermal oxidation, 15,16 ͑iv͒ N 2 O remote plasma-assisted oxidation/nitridation of the Si surface, 17,18 ͑v͒ the N 2 /He remote plasma nitridation technique described in this article, as well as ͑vi͒ chemical vapor deposition ͑CVD͒ of Si 3 N 4 on to the Si surface. Two important aspects in preparing device quality dielectrics with nitrided interface are ͑i͒ ''monolayerlevel'' controlled nitrogen incorporation at the Si-SiO 2 interface, and ͑ii͒ creation of a low defect state density and robust ͑reliable͒ Si-SiO 2 interface.…”