Dramatic reduction of gate leakage current of ultrathin oxides through oxide structure modification

Zhi Chen; Jun Guo

doi:10.1016/j.sse.2006.04.045

Dramatic reduction of gate leakage current of ultrathin oxides through oxide structure modification

Zhi Chen, Jun Guo

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

13 Scopus citations

Abstract

We study in detail a new effect, phonon-energy-coupling enhancement (PECE) effect, produced by rapid thermal processing (RTP). It includes two aspects: (1) strengthening Si-D bonds and Si-O bonds and (2) change of energy band structure and effective mass. It is shown that not only Si-D bonds but also Si-O bonds have been strengthened dramatically, leading to enhancement of robustness of the oxide structure and the oxide/Si interface. For thick oxides (>3 nm), the gate leakage current has been reduced by two-orders of magnitude and the breakdown voltage has been improved by ∼30% due to phonon energy coupling. For ultrathin oxides (2.2 nm), the direct tunnelling current has been reduced by five orders of magnitude, equivalent to that of HfO₂, probably due to increased effective mass and barrier height.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1004-1011
Number of pages	8
Journal	Solid-State Electronics
Volume	50
Issue number	6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sse.2006.04.045
State	Published - Jun 2006

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Chen Z. Career: fundamental reliability physics of MOS devices based on deuterium isotope effects. Washington, DC: National Science Foundation Proposal # 0093156; 2000.

Funding Information:
This research is supported by National Science Foundation (ECS-0093156 and EPS- 0447479) and the Office of Vice President for Research, University of Kentucky. We thank Dr. Chandan Samantaray, Pangleen Ong, and Wei Wen for technical assistance, and Dr. Janet Lumpp for fabrication of shadow masks. We also thank Prof. Fuqian Yang of University of Kentucky, Ross M. Boyle of Thermo Electron Corporation, and Si-Chen Lee of National Taiwan University for helpful suggestion.

Keywords

Coupling
Gate oxide
Leakage current
Phonon

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
Condensed Matter Physics
Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Materials Chemistry

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10.1016/j.sse.2006.04.045

Cite this

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title = "Dramatic reduction of gate leakage current of ultrathin oxides through oxide structure modification",

abstract = "We study in detail a new effect, phonon-energy-coupling enhancement (PECE) effect, produced by rapid thermal processing (RTP). It includes two aspects: (1) strengthening Si-D bonds and Si-O bonds and (2) change of energy band structure and effective mass. It is shown that not only Si-D bonds but also Si-O bonds have been strengthened dramatically, leading to enhancement of robustness of the oxide structure and the oxide/Si interface. For thick oxides (>3 nm), the gate leakage current has been reduced by two-orders of magnitude and the breakdown voltage has been improved by ∼30% due to phonon energy coupling. For ultrathin oxides (2.2 nm), the direct tunnelling current has been reduced by five orders of magnitude, equivalent to that of HfO2, probably due to increased effective mass and barrier height.",

keywords = "Coupling, Gate oxide, Leakage current, Phonon",

author = "Zhi Chen and Jun Guo",

note = "Funding Information: Chen Z. Career: fundamental reliability physics of MOS devices based on deuterium isotope effects. Washington, DC: National Science Foundation Proposal # 0093156; 2000. Funding Information: This research is supported by National Science Foundation (ECS-0093156 and EPS- 0447479) and the Office of Vice President for Research, University of Kentucky. We thank Dr. Chandan Samantaray, Pangleen Ong, and Wei Wen for technical assistance, and Dr. Janet Lumpp for fabrication of shadow masks. We also thank Prof. Fuqian Yang of University of Kentucky, Ross M. Boyle of Thermo Electron Corporation, and Si-Chen Lee of National Taiwan University for helpful suggestion. ",

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doi = "10.1016/j.sse.2006.04.045",

language = "English",

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T1 - Dramatic reduction of gate leakage current of ultrathin oxides through oxide structure modification

AU - Chen, Zhi

AU - Guo, Jun

N1 - Funding Information: Chen Z. Career: fundamental reliability physics of MOS devices based on deuterium isotope effects. Washington, DC: National Science Foundation Proposal # 0093156; 2000. Funding Information: This research is supported by National Science Foundation (ECS-0093156 and EPS- 0447479) and the Office of Vice President for Research, University of Kentucky. We thank Dr. Chandan Samantaray, Pangleen Ong, and Wei Wen for technical assistance, and Dr. Janet Lumpp for fabrication of shadow masks. We also thank Prof. Fuqian Yang of University of Kentucky, Ross M. Boyle of Thermo Electron Corporation, and Si-Chen Lee of National Taiwan University for helpful suggestion.

PY - 2006/6

Y1 - 2006/6

N2 - We study in detail a new effect, phonon-energy-coupling enhancement (PECE) effect, produced by rapid thermal processing (RTP). It includes two aspects: (1) strengthening Si-D bonds and Si-O bonds and (2) change of energy band structure and effective mass. It is shown that not only Si-D bonds but also Si-O bonds have been strengthened dramatically, leading to enhancement of robustness of the oxide structure and the oxide/Si interface. For thick oxides (>3 nm), the gate leakage current has been reduced by two-orders of magnitude and the breakdown voltage has been improved by ∼30% due to phonon energy coupling. For ultrathin oxides (2.2 nm), the direct tunnelling current has been reduced by five orders of magnitude, equivalent to that of HfO2, probably due to increased effective mass and barrier height.

AB - We study in detail a new effect, phonon-energy-coupling enhancement (PECE) effect, produced by rapid thermal processing (RTP). It includes two aspects: (1) strengthening Si-D bonds and Si-O bonds and (2) change of energy band structure and effective mass. It is shown that not only Si-D bonds but also Si-O bonds have been strengthened dramatically, leading to enhancement of robustness of the oxide structure and the oxide/Si interface. For thick oxides (>3 nm), the gate leakage current has been reduced by two-orders of magnitude and the breakdown voltage has been improved by ∼30% due to phonon energy coupling. For ultrathin oxides (2.2 nm), the direct tunnelling current has been reduced by five orders of magnitude, equivalent to that of HfO2, probably due to increased effective mass and barrier height.

KW - Coupling

KW - Gate oxide

KW - Leakage current

KW - Phonon

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Dramatic reduction of gate leakage current of ultrathin oxides through oxide structure modification

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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