The combined effects of deuterium anneals and deuterated barrier-nitride processing on hot-electron degradation in MOSFET's

This paper describes the combined effects of deuterium anneals and deuterated barrier-nitride processing on hot-electron degradation in MOSFET's. Devices subjected to a 60-min, 400 degrees C, 10% deuterium/90% nitrogen anneal after silicidization show a 32x improvement in hot-electron lifetime. These same devices are then passivated with a deuterated barrier-nitride layer formed using deuterated ammonia (ND3) and conventional silane (SiH4). Further deuterium anneals along with conventional contact and metal-level processes are used to integrate the devices. Hot-electron stressing and SIMS analysis performed at various points in the processing give insight to methods of retaining the beneficial effects of deuterium during subsequent thermal processing.