Ultra-thin oxynitride gate dielectrics by pulsed-RF DPN for 65 nm general purpose CMOS applications

This paper investigates the use of pulsed-RF decoupled plasma nitridation (DPN) for the growth of oxynitride gate dielectrics for 65 nm general purpose (GP) applications. The effects of several DPN plasma parameters, base oxide thickness and post-nitridation anneal (PNA) conditions on device performance were evaluated. Significant gate leakage reduction and improved trade-off between the equivalent-oxide-thickness (EOT) and mobility, for scaled EOT, have been found in devices with oxynitrides grown from thicker base oxides and optimized DPN/PNA processing conditions. DPN oxynitrides with 1.1-1.4 nm EOT have maximum operating voltages above 0.8 V, as extrapolated for a 10 year lifetime.