Mechanism of charge induced plasma damage to EPROM cells during fabrication of integrated circuits

Author

Barlingay, C.K. ; Yach, Randy ; Lukaszek, Wes

Author_Institution

Microchip Technol. Inc., Tempe, AZ, USA

fYear

2002

fDate

2002

Firstpage

27

Lastpage

30

Abstract

Plasma damage mechanisms can be very complex, especially when manufacturing non-volatile memories such as EPROM and flash memories. Plasma damage at via etch can manifest itself as a charge retention failure in the memory cell during product testing. This paper investigates the interaction of UV radiation, classical plasma charging due to non-uniform plasma, and standard integrated circuit fabrication procedures in order to propose an apparent charge loss failure mechanism for non-volatile memories.

Keywords

EPROM; flash memories; integrated circuit technology; ion beam effects; sputter etching; ultraviolet radiation effects; EPROM cells; UV radiation; charge induced plasma damage; charge loss failure mechanism; charge retention failure; classical plasma charging; flash memories; integrated circuits fabrication; non-volatile memories; plasma damage mechanisms; product testing; via etch; Circuit testing; EPROM; Etching; Fabrication; Failure analysis; Flash memory; Manufacturing; Nonvolatile memory; Plasma applications; Plasma materials processing;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Plasma- and Process-Induced Damage, 2002 7th International Symposium on

Print_ISBN

0-9651577-7-6

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PPID.2002.1042601

Filename

1042601