Si-SiO, interface state recovery from plasma damage by rotating wafers under a flow of deionized water

Plasma-induced damage to the Si-SiO, interface has attracted much attention because the interface quality is closely related to MOS LSI performance and reliability. We have shown that rotating wafers under a flow of water have a noteworthy effect of recovering the plasma-damaged interface; the recombination lifetimes of p-Si and n-Si, which represent the degree of the interface degradation, change at a ratio of 2 : 1 with wafer rotation time. This ratio may be closely related to the nature of the interface. A model for explaining the effect of the wafer rotation on interface recovery is proposed.