Hydrogen denudation for enhanced thin oxide quality, device performance, and potential epitaxial elimination

We report on the use of hydrogen denudation processing (annealing) that significantly improves CMOS bulk Cz wafer quality. Superior device performance, thin tunnel/gate oxide quality and Cz wafer surface properties have been measured demonstrating the potential for epitaxial elimination. This is achieved by subjecting the wafers to a short hydrogen denudation pre-process between 1050 C and 1200 C for 15 to 30 minutes. For thin oxides down to 8.2 nm up to 29% improvement was observed on two different QBD structures. Hydrogen denuding was also very effective in eliminating mode B oxide breakdown failures on bulk non-epitaxial Cz wafers. Additionally, an order of magnitude decrease in junction leakage was observed for the H/sub 2/ annealed wafers relative to the bulk non-epitaxial Cz wafers, resulting in bulk Cz wafers with surface properties similar to epi wafers without the added cost. SIMS and thermawave analysis coupled with an MeV phosphorus implant were used to characterize the effect of H/sub 2/ anneal on interstitial oxygen at the surface.<>