Assessment of charge-induced damage to ultra-thin gate MOSFETs

Author

Krishnan, S. ; Rangan, S. ; Hattangady, S. ; Xing, G. ; Brennan, K. ; Rodder, M. ; Ashok, S.

Author_Institution

Semicond. Process & Device Center, Texas Instrum. Inc., Dallas, TX, USA

fYear

1997

fDate

10-10 Dec. 1997

Firstpage

445

Lastpage

448

Abstract

We have devised a novel antenna structure that distinguishes the regimes of charging during an etch process. Using this technique, we show instances in an Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) metal etch where charging occurs exclusively during metal clear or overetch or both depending on process and hardware. We have seen instances where ultra-thin gate (21 /spl Aring/) devices are severely degraded compared to thicker gate (25-32 /spl Aring/) devices under certain ICP metal etch process conditions. Remote Plasma Nitrided (RPN) oxides are shown to be robust down to 25 /spl Aring/ with respect to antenna effects. We report here for the first time enhanced passivation of plasma damaged device with deuterium anneal.

Keywords

MOSFET; annealing; dielectric thin films; electric breakdown; electron traps; leakage currents; passivation; semiconductor device reliability; sputter etching; surface charging; 21 to 32 A; antenna effects; antenna structure; charge-induced damage; deuterium anneal; enhanced passivation; etch process; inductively coupled plasma; metal etching; plasma damaged device; remote plasma nitrided oxides; transient fuse scheme; ultra-thin gate MOSFETs; Annealing; Degradation; Deuterium; Etching; Hardware; MOSFETs; Passivation; Plasma applications; Plasma devices; Robustness;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Electron Devices Meeting, 1997. IEDM '97. Technical Digest., International

Conference_Location

Washington, DC, USA

ISSN

0163-1918

Print_ISBN

0-7803-4100-7

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IEDM.1997.650420

Filename

650420