Title :
Threshold voltage shift caused by copper contamination
Author :
Vermeire, B. ; Peterson, C.A. ; Parks, H.G. ; Sarid, D.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Arizona Univ., Tucson, AZ, USA
Abstract :
High resolution Fowler-Nordheim field emission mapping, a relatively new technique that makes use of an atomic force microscope with a conducting tip (Ruskell et al., 1996), of thin thermal SiO2 layers was used to investigate the yield and reliability implications of transistor scaling when trace amounts of copper contamination are present on the silicon surface prior to gate oxidation. A new failure mechanism is revealed that will start to manifest itself in 0.13 μm technologies
Keywords :
atomic force microscopy; copper; dielectric thin films; integrated circuit reliability; integrated circuit yield; oxidation; silicon compounds; surface contamination; 0.13 micron; Fowler-Nordheim field emission mapping; IC reliability; IC yield; SiO2:Cu-Si; atomic force microscope; conducting tip; copper contamination; failure mechanism; gate oxidation; silicon surface; thin thermal SiO2 layers; threshold voltage shift; trace copper contamination; transistor scaling; Atomic force microscopy; Atomic layer deposition; Copper; Failure analysis; Oxidation; Silicon; Surface contamination; Thermal conductivity; Thermal force; Threshold voltage;
Conference_Titel :
Reliability Physics Symposium Proceedings, 1999. 37th Annual. 1999 IEEE International
Conference_Location :
San Diego, CA
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-5220-3
DOI :
10.1109/RELPHY.1999.761632
