An investigation of the influence of low-temperature annealing treatments on the interface state density at the Si-SiO₂

Abstract

The three different interface state annealing processes widely used in MOS technology have been investigated using both quasistatic capacitance-voltage measurements and MOST characteristics. It appears that annealing in a hydrogen-nitrogen and a wet nitrogen ambient is found to produce a more rapid reduction of the interface state density. The latter process is, however, more likely to cause ionic contamination of the oxide. For the achievement of the minimum interface state density with any of the three annealing treatments a 1000 degrees C anneal in dry nitrogen after oxidation is found to be essential.