Independent Tunneling Reductions Relative to Homogeneous Oxide Dielectrics From i) Nitrided Interfaces, and ii) Physically-Thicker Stacked Oxide/Nitride and Oxide/Oxynitride Gate Dielectrics

Abstract

ABSTRACTDirect tunneling limits aggressive scaling of thermally-grown oxides to about 1.6 nm, a thickness at which the tunneling current. Jg, at one volt is ∼1 A/cm2. This paper presents results that demonstrate that stacked gate dielectrics prepared by remote plasma processing that include i) ultra-thin nitrided SiO2 interfacial layers, and ii) either silicon nitride or oxynitride bulk dielectrics can extend the equivalent oxide thickness, EOT, to 1.1-1.0 nm before Jg, > 1 A/cm2.