The Effects of Insulator Surface-Ion Migration on MOS and Bipolar Integrated Circuits

The effects of mobile ions at insulator surfaces on integrated circuits are reviewed. The published literature is reviewed and recent experimental results are presented. Recent data are given on inversion voltages and surface recombination velocities both in regions under aluminum metal and in regions not covered by metal. Other data include measurements of surface conductivity on different types of surfaces, and a demonstration of the existence of mobile ions at an interface between two insulator layers. Techniques are described for minimizing surface-ion effects on integrated circuits.