EffectsGateOxidetraps.docVIP

Effects of Gate Oxide traps Silicon di oxide is used as a gate oxide in fabrication of electron devices. The thickness, quality and method of preparation of the oxide layer decide the behavior of the device. The electron and hole traps affect the I-V characteristics and gain much more importance in sub micron device fabrication techniques. Traps in Silicon Di oxide There are various trap states present in oxide layer. They are as follows - Extrinsic trap states – These are related to impurities such as Sodium and heavy metals Semi- intrinsic trap states- These are generated by water or hydrogen related species Intrinsic trap states – These are induced by Si-Si stretched bonds or oxygen vacancy in SiO2 gate oxide. Due to developments in oxidation processes the first type of states are not observed. But the second and the third type of trap states are observed and depend upon the oxidation and annealing processes which determine the percentage of hydrogen and oxygen atoms. The presence of oxygen and hydrogen atoms in the oxide layer greatly affects its behavior under certain conditions. Through various electron and hole injection techniques such as applying high field density, increasing charge and current densities, charge pumping techniques, it is observed that the density of trap states generated during hole injection is more in SiO2 layers that are produced by wet oxidation as compared to ultra dry oxide films. Ultra dry gate oxides have two times as many hole traps as wet oxides. Annealing of dry films leads to increase in density of hole traps. The electron trap density and hole trap densities have a trade off relationship with amount of water or hydrogen related defects present. Presence of hydrogen related species affect the charge trapping in SiO2 in two ways – Trapping of electrons in the oxide layer. Relaxation of stress of stretched bonds built near the Si- SiO2 interface and termination of bonds with unpaired electrons. Dry oxidation atmosphere is