Evolution of Structural and Electrical Properties of Plasma Nitrided Silicon Oxynitrides During the Formation Process

Abstract

In this work the formation of silicon oxynitrides by decoupled plasma nitridation of thin RTO grown silicon oxide films, varying in thickness, and composition was investigated. Non- destructive Cocos measurement techniques were used after each processing step as base oxidation, plasma nitridation and different post nitridation anneals. It was found, that the base oxide thickness strongly influences the interaction of the plasma species with the solid state material, and thereby impacts severely the film properties. A effective model describing the effect of plasma nitridation process on the dielectric material is proposed.