Breakdown characteristics of RTO 10 nm SiO/sub 2/ films grown at different temperatures

Metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitors with 10 nm gate oxides grown by rapid thermal oxidation at temperatures of 1000, 1100 and 1150/spl deg/C have been electrically characterized by means of C-V techniques, time-zero and time-dependent breakdown experiments. The oxides grown at higher temperatures show superior interfacial and oxide integrity characteristics, which is consistent with a lower level of intrinsic stress in such layers. The overall improvement exhibited by similar samples annealed at the same temperatures also supports this idea. The opposite dependence on the growth temperature observed in TZDB with respect to TDDB experiences has been shown to be consistent with the trapping behaviour exhibited by the samples under study.<>