Optimization problems for plasma-induced damage - A concept for plasma-induced damage design

This article demonstrates optimization problems for plasma-induced physical damage (PPD) in MOSFET. Since plasma-induced Si substrate damage (one of PPD mechanisms) degrades MOSFET performance such as drain current (I_on) and off-state leakage current (I_off), an implementation of PPD impact on MOSFET specifications is quite important in developing plasma processes. However, as presented, the degradation of I_on and I_off by PPD is in a tradeoff relationship. Therefore, one can not minimize I_on- and I_off-degradation independently by tuning process parameters - one can only optimize the process parameters (ex. maximize a plasma-process performance) to satisfy given MOSFET specifications (I_on and I_off). A methodology of optimization problems is demonstrated by focusing on PPD in the source / drain extension region of MOSFET.