Impact of high-temperature dry local oxidation on gate oxide quality

Charge-to-breakdown evaluation of gate oxide obtained by implementing high-temperature dry oxidation for field oxide growth has been performed. A remarkable improvement in gate oxide quality has been noted with respect to that obtained using the conventional medium-temperature wet oxidation. Experimental results have shown that the quality of the gate oxide grown close to the active area border has an important role in reliability improvement. Further, by simultaneously performing the well drive-in and the high-temperature dry field oxidation, stacking fault density reduction in the active area is observed. This also has a beneficial impact on the gate oxide quality.