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Leakage and Breakdown in Thin Oxide Capacitors—Correlation with Decorated Stacking Faults
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1983
Year
EngineeringBreakdown StrengthDefect ToleranceMos CapacitorsThin Oxide Capacitors—correlationCapacitor LeakageDecorated Stacking FaultsMaterials ScienceElectrical EngineeringHardware ReliabilityCrystalline DefectsOxide ElectronicsOxide SemiconductorsTime-dependent Dielectric BreakdownDefect FormationMicroelectronicsStress-induced Leakage CurrentApplied PhysicsCircuit Reliability
Thin oxide MOS capacitors which exhibited high leakage and lowered breakdown strength were studied by a number of methods in order to identify the mechanism responsible for the degradation. Electron beam‐induced current (EBIC) studies, Secco etching, transmission electron microscope imaging, and energy dispersive x‐ray spectroscopy were all applied to this problem. The results indicated that the defects responsible for the poor dielectric properties are impurity (Cu,Ni,Fe,Zn,Sn)‐decorated stacking faults about 1μ in length, located in silicon near the silicon‐silicon dioxide interface. This study establishes that decorated stacking faults degrade the quality of MOS capacitors by increasing capacitor leakage and decreasing breakdown strength.