Thermally Stimulated Current in SiO(2)
- Sandia National Laboratories
Thermally stimulated current (TSC) techniques provide information about oxide-trap charge densi- ties and energy distributions in MOS capacitors exposed to ionizing radiation or high-field stress that is difficult or impossible to obtain via standard capacitance-voltage or current-voltage techniques. The pre- cision and reproducibility of measurements through repeated irradiation/TSC cycles on a single capacitor is demonstrated with a radiation-hardened oxide, and small sample-to-sample variations are observed. A small increase in E5' center density may occur in some non-radiation-hardened oxides during repeated irradiation/TSC measurement cycles. The importance of choosing an appropriate bias to obtain accurate measurements of trapped charge densities and energy distributions is emphasized. A 10 nm deposited oxide with no subsequent annealing above 400°C shows a different trapped-hole energy distribution than thermally grown oxides, but a similar distribution to thermal oxides is found for deposited oxides an- nealed at higher temperatures. Charge neutralization during switched-bias irradiation is found to occur both because of hole-electron annihilation and increased electron trapping in the near-interfacial Si02. Limitations in applying TSC to oxides thinner than ~5 nm are discussed.
- Research Organization:
- Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), Albuquerque, NM, and Livermore, CA
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-94AL85000
- OSTI ID:
- 7863
- Report Number(s):
- SAND99-1474J; ON: DE00007863
- Journal Information:
- Microelectronics Reliability, Journal Name: Microelectronics Reliability
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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