The removal of nitrogen during boron indiffusion in silicon gate oxynitrides

Abstract

The effect which nitrogen has upon boron diffusion through oxynitride gate dielectrics has been studied with secondary ion mass spectroscopy of polycrystalline silicon–oxynitride–silicon structures, and with x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy of silicon–boron–oxynitride–silicon structures. These studies show that the indiffusion of boron results in removal of nitrogen from the oxynitride. This indicates that the role of nitrogen in suppressing boron penetration is chemical in nature rather than diffusive.