Atomic hydrogen-induced degradation of thin SiO 2 gate oxides

Abstract

The generation of interface states at the Si SiO 2- interface caused by atomic hydrogen, H 0, from a remote hydrogen plasma has been studied. It is found that H 0 produces large numbers of interface-states, irrespective of the oxide thickness and the substrate orientation. The interface-state density is found to increase linearly with the H 0-dose over a wide range. The rate at which the interface-states are created appears to be thermally activated with an activation energy of ⋍ 200 meV. The rate increases with decreasing oxide thickness, indicating that the generation may be limited in part by the H 0 diffusion to the interface. The Si (1 1 1) interface is found to degrade faster than the Si (1 0 0) interface.