Effects of carbon on charge loss in EPROM structures

Author

Barker, Stephen A.

Author_Institution

Intel Corp., Hillsboro, OR, USA

fYear

1991

fDate

9-11 April 1991

Firstpage

171

Lastpage

174

Abstract

Charge loss failures on EPROM (erasable programmable read only memory) devices are conclusively linked to the presence of carbon in oxidizing ambients. Oxides grown in hydrogen chloride (HCl) and trichloroethane (TCA) are compared on polysilicon and single crystal substrates. Both product and test structures are used for evaluation oxide quality. Carbon dioxide (CO/sub 2/) injected into HCl oxidation cycles is used to isolate carbon as the cause of device yield degradation. TCA oxidations are shown to be similar in result to CO/sub 2/ enhanced HCl oxidations. Elemental analysis of silicon substrates oxidized in carbon bearing atmospheres reveals an accumulation of carbon at the oxide-silicon interface.<>

Keywords

EPROM; carbon; circuit reliability; failure analysis; integrated memory circuits; oxidation; semiconductor-insulator boundaries; C; CO/sub 2/; CO/sub 2/ enhanced HCl oxidations; CO/sub 2/-HCl; EPROM structures; HCl oxidation cycles; carbon bearing atmospheres; charge leakage; charge loss failures; erasable programmable read only memory; oxide quality; oxide-semiconductor interface; oxidizing ambients; polysilicon; single crystal substrates; trichloroethane; Capacitors; Carbon dioxide; Circuit testing; Dielectric substrates; EPROM; Human computer interaction; Manufacturing; Oxidation; PROM; Silicon;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Reliability Physics Symposium, 1991, 29th Annual Proceedings., International

Conference_Location

Las Vegas, NV, USA

Print_ISBN

0-87942-680-2

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/RELPHY.1991.146009

Filename

146009