Thin-oxide-MOS damages generated after treatment in MERIE reactor

The effect of magnetized non-uniform helium plasma on the properties of thin oxide (11-13 nm) MOS structures has been investigated by means of the HLFCV technique. The plasma reactor system used is like a magnetically enhanced reactive ion etcher. The damage creation for MOS structures with various Al gate thicknesses was determined as a function of discharge parameters and plasma exposure time. The creation of a large amount of defects in the form of a fixed oxide charge and interface states is found; the build-up plasma damage process is very rapid, particularly during the first 5-30 s of the plasma exposure time and it depends essentially on the Al gate thickness. It is established that build-up damage depends on the plasma non-uniformity but the non-uniformity is neither the dominating nor the only factor