Leakage current characteristics by ion-bombardment physical damage during pulse-time modulated plasma process

The pulse-time modulated plasma etching technology, developed more than a decade ago, has been considered as one of the best solutions to the plasma-process-induced charging damage on the gate oxide of the MOSFET. In the plasma-off state, the generation of the negative ion due to a low temperature electron attachment to the neutral radical, helps in reducing the plasma-process-induced charging damage. However, the plasma-process-induced physical damages that are generated by highly energetic ion-bombardment during the pulse-time modulated plasma process have not been evaluated yet.