MOS characteristics of ultrathin NO-grown oxynitrides

Abstract

In this paper, we report for the first time, the growth of high quality ultrathin oxynitrides formed by nitridation of SiO/sub 2/ in nitric oxide (NO) ambient using in-situ rapid thermal processing (RTP). This process is highly self-limited compared with N/sub 2/O oxidation of silicon. A significant improvement in the interface endurance and charge trapping properties, under constant current stress, compared to pure O/sub 2/-grown and N/sub 2/O-grown oxides is observed. The NO growth process will have a great impact on future CMOS and EEPROM technologies.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>