ATOMIC HYDROGEN-INDUCED INTERFACE DEGRADATION OF REOXIDIZED-NITRIDED SILICON DIOXIDE ON SILICON

Remote hydrogen plasma exposure is used to study the transport of atomic hydrogen, H-0, through reoxidized-nitrided oxides and SiO2 and to quantify H-0-induced degradation of their interfaces with silicon. It is directly demonstrated that (1) H-0 is extremely reactive and produces large numbers of interface states; (2) the transport of H-0 to the silicon/oxide interface is strongly suppressed in reoxidized-nitrided oxides; and (3) this suppression of the H-0 transport is mainly responsible for the much slower interface degradation of reoxidized-nitrided oxides during high-field, hot-electron stress as compared to thermal oxide.