Suppressed boron penetration in p+ polycrystalline-Si/Al2O3/Si metal–oxide–semiconductor structures

Abstract

We demonstrate a suppressed boron penetration in p+ polycrystalline-Si (poly-Si)/Al2O3/n-Si metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) capacitors using a remote plasma nitridation (RPN) of Al2O3 surface. The B penetration was sufficiently suppressed for temperature to 850 °C in N2 for 30 min as manifested by the negligible flat band shift (ΔVFB) and insignificant B diffusion. The nitrogen (N) incorporation in Al2O3 surface appears to effectively impede the B diffusion into the Si channel. Increased gate leakage current for the n+ poly-Si/RPN-Al2O3/p-Si n-type MOS capacitors was observed and attributed to the reduced band gap energy of RPN-Al2O3 due to the formation of AlN and bulk defects due to RPN. Optimization of N concentration is required for the suppressed B penetration and leakage reduction.