ATOMIC HYDROGEN-INDUCED DEGRADATION OF THIN SIO2 GATE OXIDES

The generation of interface states at the Si/SiO2-interface caused by atomic hydrogen, H-0, from a remote hydrogen plasma has been studied. It is found that H-0 produces large numbers of interface-states, irrespective of the oxide thickness and the substrate orientation. The interface-state density is found to increase linearly with the Ho-dose over a wide range. The rate at which the interface-states are created appears to be thermally activated with an activation energy of similar or equal to 200 meV. The rate increases with decreasing oxide thickness, indicating that the generation may be limited in part by the H-0 diffusion to the interface. The Si (111) interface is found to degrade faster than the Si (100) interface.