Combined nanoscale and device-level degradation analysis of SiO2 layers of MOS nonvolatile memory devices

IEEE Transactions on Device and Materials Reliability

Volumn 9, Issue 4, 2009, Pages 529-536

  Lanza, Mario ^a   Porti, Marc ^a   Nafría, Montserrat ^a   Aymerich, Xavier ^a   Sebastiani, Alessandro ^b   Ghidini, Gabriella ^b   Vedda, Anna ^c   Fasoli, M ^c  

^a UNIVERSITAT AUTÒNOMA DE BARCELONA   (Spain)

^b University of Milano Bicocca ^*

^c UNIVERSITY OF MILANO BICOCCA   (Italy)

Author keywords

Atomic force microscopy (AFM); Luminescence; MOS memory integrated circuits

Indexed keywords

ATOMIC FORCE MICROSCOPY; LEAKAGE (FLUID); LEAKAGE CURRENTS; LUMINESCENCE; NANOTECHNOLOGY; NONVOLATILE STORAGE; SILICA;

CONDUCTIVE ATOMIC FORCE MICROSCOPY; DEGRADATION ANALYSIS; ELECTRICAL STRESS; MOS MEMORY INTEGRATED CIRCUITS; NONVOLATILE MEMORY DEVICES; SPECTROSCOPIC MEASUREMENTS; STRESS INDUCED DEFECTS; THERMALLY STIMULATED LUMINESCENCE;

MOS DEVICES;

EID: 72649086469     PISSN: 15304388     EISSN: 15304388     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1109/TDMR.2009.2027228     Document Type: Conference Paper

References (20)

1. W. Polspoel and W. Vandervorst, "Evaluation of trap creation and charging in thin SiO2 using both SCM and C-AFM," Microelectron. Eng., vol.84, no.3, pp. 495-500, Mar. 2007.
2. W. Frammelsberger, G. Benstetter, J. Kiely, and R. Stamp, "Thickness determination of thin and ultra-thin SiO2 films by C-AFM IV-spectroscopy," Appl. Surf. Sci., vol.252, no.6, pp. 2375-2388, Jan. 2006.
3. S. Kremmer, H. Wurmbauer, C. Teichert, G. Tallarida, S. Spiga, C. Wiemer, and M. Fanciulli, "Nanoscale morphological and electrical homogeneity of HfO2 and ZrO2 thin films studied by conducting atomicforce microscopy," J. Appl. Phys., vol.97, no.7, p. 074 315, Mar. 2005.
4. M. Porti, M. Nafría, and X. Aymerich, "Nanometer-scale analysis of current limited stresses impact on SiO2 gate oxide reliability using C-AFM," IEEE Trans. Nanotechnol., vol.3, no.1, pp. 55-60, Mar. 2004.
5. L. Zhang and Y.Mitani, "Structural and electrical evolution of gate dielectric breakdown observed by conductive atomic force microscopy," Appl. Phys. Lett., vol.88, no.3, p. 032 906, Jan. 2006.
6. R. A. Oliver, "Advances in AFM for the electrical characterization of semiconductors," Rep. Prog. Phys., vol.71, no.7, p. 076 501, Jun. 2008.
7. C. Sire, S. Blonkowski, M. J. Gordon, and T. Baron, "Statistics of electrical breakdown field in HfO2 and SiO2 films from millimeter to nanometer length scales," Appl. Phys. Lett., vol.91, no.24, p. 242 905, Dec. 2007.
8. Y. L. Wu, S. T. Lin, and C. P. Lee, "Time-to-breakdown Weibull distribution of thin gate oxide subjected to nanoscaled constant-voltage and constant-current stresses," IEEE Trans. Device Mater. Rel., vol.8, no.2, pp. 352-357, Jun. 2008.
9. A. Paskaleva, V. Yanev, M. Rommel, M. Lemberger, and A. J. Bauer, "Improved insight in charge trapping of high-kZrO2/SiO2 stacks by use of tunneling atomic force microscopy," J. Appl. Phys., vol.104, no.2, p. 024 108, Jul. 2008.
10. E. Efthymiou, S. Bernardini, S. N. Volkos, B. Hamilton, J. F. Zhang, H. J. Uppal, and A. R. Peaker, "Reliability nano-characterization of thin SiO2 and HfSixOy/SiO2 gate stacks," Microelectron. Eng., vol. 84, no. 9/10, pp. 2290-2293, Sep./Oct. 2007.
11. A. Vedda, M. Martini, E. Rosetta, G. Spinolo, A. Bonelli, M. E. Vitali, and M. Alessandri, "Point defects in thermal SiO2 layers: Thermally stimulated luminescence and corona oxide electrical characterization," J. Appl. Phys., vol.94, no.9, p. 5643, Nov. 2003.
12. A. Votta, E. Bellandi, M. Alessandri, A. Vedda, A. Ferretti, M. Fasoli, and F. Moretti, "Study of SiO2 modifications by oxygen plasmas and their effect on wet processes," ECS Trans., vol.11, no.2, p. 239, 2007.
13. M. Martini, F. Meinardi, E. Rosetta, G. Spinolo, A. Vedda, J. L. Leray, P. Paillet, J. L. Autran, and R. A. B. Devine, "Radiation induced thermally thermally stimulated luminescence and conductivity in SIMOX oxides," IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci., vol.43, no.3, pp. 845-850, Jun. 1996.
14. 2 films," J. Non-Cryst. Solids, vol.280, no.1-3, pp. 177-182, Feb. 2001.
15. A. Vedda, N. Chiodini, D. Di Martino, M. Fasoli, L. Griguta, F. Moretti, and E. Rosetta, "Thermally stimulated luminescence of Ce and Tb doped SiO2 sol-gel glasses," J. Non-Cryst. Solids, vol.351, no.49-51, pp. 3699-3703, Dec. 2005.
16. K. Biswas and S. Kal, "Etch characteristics of KOH, TMAH and dual doped TMAH for bulk micromachining of silicon," Microelectron. J., vol.37, no.6, pp. 519-525, Jun. 2006.
17. R. Degraeve, B. Kaczer, F. Schuler, M. Lorenzini, D. Wellenkens, P. Hendrickx, J. Van Houdt, L. Haspeslagh, G. Tempel, and G. Groeseneken, "Statistical model for SILC and pre-breakdown current jumps in ultra-thin oxide layers," in IEDM Tech. Dig., 2001, pp. 121-124.
18. M. Porti, M. Nafria, X. Aymerich, A. Olbrich, and B. Ebersberger, "Electrical characterization of stressed and broken down SiO2 films at a nanometer scale using a conductive atomic force microscope," J. Appl. Phys., vol.91, no.4, pp. 2071-2079, Feb. 2001.
19. M. Porti, M. Nafria, M. C. Blum, X. Aymerich, and S. Sadewasser, "Atomic force microscope topographical artifacts after the dielectric breakdown of ultrathin SiO2 films," Surf. Sci., vol.532-535, pp. 727- 731, Jun. 2003.
20. M. Porti, M. Avidano, M. Nafria, X. Aymerich, J. Carreras, and B. Garrido, "Nanoscale electrical characterization of Sinc based memory metal-oxide-semiconductor devices," J. Appl. Phys., vol.101, no.6, p. 064 509, Mar. 2007.