Highly Reliable Polysilicon Oxide Grown by Electron Cyclotron Resonance Nitrous Oxide Plasma

Abstract

Highly reliable inter-polysilicon oxide (polyoxide) for nonvolatile memory applications has been achieved using electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) N2O-plasma, It is demonstrated that the N2O-plasma polyoxide grown on doped poly-Si has a low leakage current and high breakdown field due to a smooth polyoxide/poly-Si interface and nitrogen incorporation during oxidation, Moreover, the polyoxide has much less electron trapping and over one order larger charge-to-breakdown (Q(bd)) up to 10 C/cm(2) than thermal polyoxide. The N2O-plasma polyoxide can be a good choice for interpoly dielectric of nonvolatile memories.