Title :
The prevention of charge damage on thin gate oxide from high density plasma deposition
Author :
Shih, H.H. ; Tsai, C.Y. ; Yang, G.S. ; Chen, K.C. ; Yew, T.R. ; Lur, W. ; Liou, F.-T.
Author_Institution :
Adv. Technol. Dev. Dept., United Microelectron. Corp., Hsin-Chu, Taiwan
Abstract :
In this paper, thin gate oxide charge damage caused by high-density-plasma (HDP) deposition of inter-metal dielectric (IMD) was studied. In a nonoptimized HDP process, it is easy to generate nonuniform plasma charges. The plasma charges flow along metal lines, contact holes, and poly-gates to damage the gate oxide. This causes degradation of gate oxide quality and MOS device performance. A multiple-step HDP deposition process is demonstrated in this work which prevents plasma damage, by introducing an in-situ low etch-to-deposition (E/D) ratio thin oxide layer before conventional HDP gap-fill. A mechanism of plasma charge induced damage on gate oxide quality due to HDP chemical vapor deposited (CVD) dielectric deposition is proposed
Keywords :
CMOS integrated circuits; dielectric thin films; integrated circuit interconnections; integrated circuit metallisation; integrated circuit reliability; plasma CVD; plasma density; surface charging; CMOS technology; HDP chemical vapor deposited dielectric deposition; HDP gap-fill; HDP-CVD dielectric deposition; MOS device performance; charge damage prevention; contact holes; gate oxide; gate oxide quality; high density plasma deposition; high-density-plasma ILD deposition; in-situ low etch-to-deposition ratio thin oxide layer; inter-metal dielectric; metal lines; multiple-step HDP deposition process; nonoptimized HDP process; nonuniform plasma charge generation; plasma charge flow; plasma charge induced damage; plasma damage; poly-gates; thin gate oxide; thin gate oxide charge damage; CMOS process; Channel bank filters; Chemical vapor deposition; Dielectrics; Optical films; Planarization; Plasma applications; Plasma chemistry; Plasma density; Plasma devices;
Conference_Titel :
Plasma Process-Induced Damage, 1999 4th International Symposium on
Conference_Location :
Monterey, CA
Print_ISBN :
0-9651577-3-3
DOI :
10.1109/PPID.1999.798820
