Evaluation of rapid thermal nitrided ONO interpoly dielectric resistance to plasma process-induced damage

Author

Cha, C.L. ; Chor, E.F. ; Gong, H. ; Zhang, A.Q. ; Dong, Z. ; Chan, L.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng., Nat. Univ. of Singapore, Singapore

fYear

1999

fDate

1999

Firstpage

49

Lastpage

52

Abstract

Investigative studies to improve the resistance to plasma process-induced damage and data-retention time of ONO in flash memory devices via a rapid thermal nitridation (RTN) process in N₂O ambient have been carried out. Experimental results revealed that an extra RTN step (1050°C, 30 s) after nitride deposition during ONO growth indeed leads to a better quality stacked dielectric layer over the conventional process. Brief explanations of the beneficial effects of RTN are provided in this paper

Keywords

dielectric thin films; flash memories; integrated circuit interconnections; integrated circuit metallisation; integrated circuit testing; integrated circuit yield; integrated memory circuits; nitridation; plasma materials processing; 1050 C; 30 s; N₂O; N₂O ambient; ONO growth; RTN step; SiO₂-Si₃N₄-SiO₂; data-retention time; flash memory devices; nitride deposition; plasma process-induced damage; plasma process-induced damage resistance; rapid thermal nitridation; rapid thermal nitrided ONO interpoly dielectric; stacked dielectric layer quality; Dielectric devices; Electric resistance; Materials science and technology; Nonvolatile memory; Plasma applications; Plasma devices; Plasma materials processing; Rapid thermal processing; Research and development; Thermal resistance;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Plasma Process-Induced Damage, 1999 4th International Symposium on

Conference_Location

Monterey, CA

Print_ISBN

0-9651577-3-3

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PPID.1999.798806

Filename

798806