Application of Non-contact Corona-Kelvin metrology
for Characterization of Plasma Nitrided SiO2
27/03/07 08:00
A. Belyaev, D. Marinskiy, M. Wilson, J. D’Amico, L.
Jastrzebski and J. Lagowski
Semiconductor Diagnostics Inc., 3650 Spectrum Blvd., Suite 130, Tampa, FL, 33612
In this paper we demonstrate an application of the micro corona-Kelvin metrology to monitoring of the electrical properties of silicon oxynitrides prepared with a plasma nitridation process currently used for advanced gate dielectrics. Key measurement parameters to be discussed in correlation with nitrogen concentration are: dielectric capacitance equivalent thickness (CET), dielectric voltage in valence band tunneling range (VB), interface trapped charge (Qit) and flatband voltage with an emphasis on correlation with nitrogen concentration. Positive and negative polarity tunneling conditions are used as a sensitive measure of dielectric conduction and valence band structure, respectively. Taking advantage of the large valence band offset difference between Si3N4 and SiO2, we employ tunneling measurements for very sensitive probing of the nitrogen content in SiON dielectrics.
Keywords: Corona-Kelvin, scribe lines, plasma nitridation.
Published at: 2007 International Conference on Frontiers of Characterization and Metrology for Nanoelectronics.
Semiconductor Diagnostics Inc., 3650 Spectrum Blvd., Suite 130, Tampa, FL, 33612
In this paper we demonstrate an application of the micro corona-Kelvin metrology to monitoring of the electrical properties of silicon oxynitrides prepared with a plasma nitridation process currently used for advanced gate dielectrics. Key measurement parameters to be discussed in correlation with nitrogen concentration are: dielectric capacitance equivalent thickness (CET), dielectric voltage in valence band tunneling range (VB), interface trapped charge (Qit) and flatband voltage with an emphasis on correlation with nitrogen concentration. Positive and negative polarity tunneling conditions are used as a sensitive measure of dielectric conduction and valence band structure, respectively. Taking advantage of the large valence band offset difference between Si3N4 and SiO2, we employ tunneling measurements for very sensitive probing of the nitrogen content in SiON dielectrics.
Keywords: Corona-Kelvin, scribe lines, plasma nitridation.
Published at: 2007 International Conference on Frontiers of Characterization and Metrology for Nanoelectronics.