• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.25-29
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• 2008

Reliability and performance in metal gate/high-k device with multiple gate dielectrics were investigated. MOSFETs with a thin $HfSiO_x$ layer on a thermal Si02 dielectric as gate dielectrics exhibit excellent mobility and low interface trap density. However, the distribution of threshold voltages of $HfSiO_x/SiO_2$ stack devices were wider than those of $SiO_2$ and $HfSiO_x$ single layer devices due to the penetration of Hf and/or intermixing of $HfSiO_x$ with underlying $SiO_2$. The results of TZDB and SILC characteristics suggested that a certain portion of $HfSiO_x$ layer reacted with the underlying thick $SiO_2$ layer, which in turn affected the reliability characteristics.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.21 no.8
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• pp.687-694
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• 2008

This paper is focused on the improvement of MOS device reliability related to deuterium process. The injection of deuterium into the gate oxide film was achieved through two kind of method, high-pressure annealing and low-energy implantation at the back-end of line, for the purpose of the passivation of dangling bonds at $SiO_2/Si$ interface. Experimental results are presented for the degradation of 3-nm-thick gate oxide ($SiO_2$) under both negative-bias temperature instability (NBTI) and hot-carrier injection (HCI) stresses using P and NMOSFETs. Annealing process was rather difficult to control the concentration of deuterium. Because when the concentration of deuterium is redundant in gate oxide excess traps are generated and degrades the performance, we found annealing process did not show the improved characteristics in device reliability, compared to conventional process. However, deuterium ion implantation at the back-end process was effective method for the fabrication of the deuterated gate oxide. Device parameter variations under the electrical stresses depend on the deuterium concentration and are improved by low-energy deuterium implantation, compared to conventional process. Our result suggests the novel method to incorporate deuterium in the MOS structure for the reliability.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.18 no.11
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• pp.996-1000
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• 2005

Experimental results are presented for the degradation of 3 nm-thick gate oxide $(SiO_2)$ under both Negative-bias Temperature Instability (NBTI) and Hot-carrier-induced (HCI) stresses using P and NMOSFETS, The devices are annealed with hydrogen or deuterium gas at high-pressure $(1\~5\;atm.)$ to introduce higher concentration in the gate oxide. Both interface trap and oxide bulk trap are found to dominate the reliability of gate oxide during electrical stress. The degradation mechanism depends on the condition of electrical stress that could change the location of damage area in the gate oxide. It was found the trap generation in the gate oxide film is mainly related to the breakage of Si-H bonds in the interface or the bulk area. We suggest that deuterium bonds in $SiO_2$ film are effective in suppressing the generation of traps related to the energetic hot carriers.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
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• 1998.10a
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• pp.549-552
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• 1998

Recently, the gate oxide damage induced by the plasma processes has been one of the most significant reliability issues as the gate oxide thickness falls below 10 nm. The process-induced damage was studied with the metal antenna test structures. In addition to the electron trapping, the hole trapping in a 10 nm thick gate oxide due to the plasma-induced charging was observed in the NMOS's with a metal antenna. The hole trapping gave rise to the decrease of the transconductance (gm) similarly to the case of the electron trapping, but to the extent much less than the electron trapping. It would be because the electrical stress that the plasma-induced charging forced to the gate oxide for the devices with the hole trapping was much smaller than for those with the electron trapping. This hypothesis was strongly supported by the measured characteristics of the Fowler-Nordheim current in the gate oxide.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.45 no.7
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• pp.23-31
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• 2008

Experiment results are presented for gate oxide degradation under the constant voltage stress conditions using MOSFETs with 3-nm-thick gate oxides that are treated by deuterium gas. Two kinds of methods, annealing and implantation, are suggested for the effective deuterium incorporation. Annealing process was rather difficult to control the concentration of deuterium. Because the excess deuterium in gate oxide could be a precursor for the wear-out of gate oxide film, we found annealing process did not show improved characteristics in device reliability, compared to conventional process. However, deuterium implantation at the back-end process was effective method for the deuterated gate oxide. Device parameter variations as well as the gate leakage current depend on the deuterium concentration and are improved by low-energy deuterium implantation, compared to those of conventional process. Especially, we found that PMOSFET experienced the high voltage stress shows a giant isotope effect. This is likely because the reaction between "hot" hole and deuterium is involved in the generation of oxide trap.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics D
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• v.36D no.3
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• pp.34-40
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• 1999

Recently, the gate oxide damage induced by the plasma processes has been one of the most significant reliability issues as the gate oxide thickness falls below 10 nm. The plasma-induced damage was studied with the metal antenna test structures. In addition to the electron trapping, the hole trapping in a 10 nm thick gate oxide due to the plasma-induced charging was observed in the NMOS's with a metal antenna. The hole trapping caused the transconductance (gm) to be reduced like the case of the electron trapping, but to the extent much less than the electron trapping. It would be because the electrical stress that the plasma-induced charging forced to the gate oxide for the devices with the hole trapping was much smaller than for those with the electron trapping. This hypothesis was strongly supported by the measured characteristics of the Fowler-Nordheim current in the gate oxide.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.41 no.11
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• pp.7-13
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• 2004

Experimental results are presented for the degradation of 3 nm-thick gate oxide under -2.5V $\leq$ V$_{g}$ $\leq$-4.0V stress and 10$0^{\circ}C$ conditions using P and NMOSFETs that are annealed with hydrogen or deuterium gas at high-pressure (5 atm). The degradation mechanisms are highly dependent on stress conditions. For low gate voltage, hole-trapping is found to dominate the reliability of gate oxide both in P and NMOSFETs. With increasing gate voltage to V$_{g}$ =-4.0V, the degradation becomes dominated by electron-trapping in NMOSFETs, however, the generation rate of "hot" hole was very low, because most of tunneling electrons experienced the phonon scattering before impact ionization at the Si interface. Statistical parameter variations as well as the gate leakage current depend on and are improved by high-pressure deuterium annealing, compared to corresponding hydrogen annealing. We therefore suggest that deuterium is effective in suppressing the generation of traps within the gate oxide. Our results therefore prove that hydrogen related processes are at the origin of the investigated oxide degradation.gradation.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.46 no.8
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• pp.31-40
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• 2009

This paper presents a design of a high performance DC-DC boost converter as a power module for SOC designs. It applied to this chip that reduced inductor and capacitor for integrating on a chip, and it operates with a switching frequency of 100MHz. It has reliability and stability in high switching frequency. The controller of DC-DC boost converter is designed by voltage-mode control method and compensated properly. The designed DC-DC converter is fabricated with the 0.18${\mu}m$ standard CMOS technology with a thick-gate oxide option. The overall die size is 8.14$mm^2$, and controller size is 1.15$mm^2$. The converter has the maximum efficiency over 76% for the output voltage of 4V and load current larger 300mA. The load regulation is 0.012% (0.5mV) for the load current change of 100mA.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2005.07a
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• pp.29-30
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• 2005

Experimental results are presented for the degradation of 3 nm-thick gate oxide ($SiO_2$) under both Negative-bias Temperature Instability(NBTI) and Hot-carrier-induced(HCI) stresses using P and NMOSFETs that are annealed with hydrogen or deuterium gas at high-pressure (1~5 atm.). Statistical parameter variations depend on the stress conditions. We suggest that deuterium bonds in $SiO_2$ film is effective in suppressing the generation of traps related to the energetic hot electrons.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics D
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• v.36D no.10
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• pp.17-22
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• 1999

In this paper, the results of the studies about a new proposal where the ONON(oxide-nitride-oxide-nitride) layer instead of the conventional ONO(oxide-nitride-oxide) layer is used as the IPD(inter-poly-dielectrics) layer to improve the data retention problem in the Flash EEPROM cell, have been discussed. For these studies, the stacked-gate Flash EEPROM cell with an about 10nm thick gate oxide and on ONO or ONON IPD layer have been fabricated. The measurement results have shown that the data retention characteristics of the devices with the ONO IPD layer are significantly degraded with an activation energy of 0.78 eV. which is much lower than the minimum value (1.0 eV) required for the Flash EEPROM cell. This is believed to be due to the partial or whole etching of the top oxide of the IPD layer during the cleaning process performed just prior to the dry oxidation process to grow the gate oxide of the peripheral MOSFET devices. Whereas the data retention characteristics of the devices with the ONON IPD layer have been found to be much (more than 50%) improved with an activation energy of 1.10 eV. This must be because the thin nitride layer on the top oxide layer in the ONON IPD layer protected the top oxide layer from being etched during the cleaning process.