Hot-electron induced passivation of silicon dangling bonds at the Si(111)/SiO2 interface

Abstract

It is demonstrated that pre-existing silicon dangling bonds in Al-gate metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitors on (111) silicon substrates are passivated during hot-electron stress, while defects—of an as yet unidentified nature—are simultaneously generated. This degradation behavior mimics the interface degradation caused by atomic hydrogen from a remote plasma, suggesting that hydrogen release by hot electrons leads to interface degradation, but the silicon dangling bond is not the dominant interface defect.

Structural analysis, elemental profiling, and electrical characterization of HfO2 thin films deposited on In0.53Ga0.47As surfaces by atomic layer deposition

“…This is characteristic of an interface defect response where the interface state distribution exhibits a peak at a specific energy in the band gap at the dielectric/semiconductor interface. [21][22][23] For the case of inversion at the HfO 2 / In 0.53 Ga 0.47 As interface with an associated minority carrier response, the capacitance should acquire a constant value in inversion, where the magnitude of the capacitance increases with decreasing ac signal frequency. The inset of Fig.…”

Physical and predictive models of ultrathin oxide reliability in CMOS devices and circuits

“…Since that time, it was shown that exposure of bare SiO films to atomic hydrogen radicals, in the absence of any electric field, will produce electrically active defects essentially identical to those produced by electrical stress or radiation [26], [37]- [51]. Paramagnetic interface defects [38], [39], [48], [50] (the centers, which are Si dangling bonds at the Si/SiO interface), diamagnetic interface defects (fast and slow interface states) [37], [38], [40]- [43], [45]- [50], and bulk electron traps [44] are produced. The desorption rate of hydrogen from Si surfaces was measured as a function of incident electron energy [52] and showed a dependence remarkably similar to the voltage dependence of the trap generation process [23], [25].…”

Hydrogen and hot electron defect creation at the Si(100)/SiO2interface of metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors

“…It was found that the dangling bond had a positive correlation energy of U corr = 0.40 eV. This value is just below the experimentally determined value of U corr = 0.52 eV for silicon dangling bonds at the Si(111)/SiO 2 interface [22]. Results for Si(100)/SiO 2 are similar [21] but disorder and the occurrence of two distinct dangling bond defects complicates the picture.…”

“…Here we would like to point out that the (0/−) for the silicon dangling bond is close to the value of (+/−) for atomic H in Si. Finally, Northrup's [20] calculations indicate that (+/−) = 0.00 eV whereas the experimentally [22] derived value is 0.55 eV higher in energy.…”

“…The positive value for the correlation energy means that the neutral charge state for the dangling bond defect is stable for some value of the Fermi energy. The experimental studies of Cartier and Stathis [22] indicate the (+/0) and (0/−) transitions occur at (+/0) = 0.3 eV and (0/−) = 0.8 eV, respectively. Here we would like to point out that the (0/−) for the silicon dangling bond is close to the value of (+/−) for atomic H in Si.…”