Nanoscale bias-annealing effect in postirradiated thin silicon dioxide films observed by conductive atomic force Microscopy

作者：Wu You-Lin; Lin Shi-Tin; Chang Tsung-Min; Liou Juin J.

来源：IEEE Transactions on Device and Materials Reliability, 2007, 7(2): 351-355.

DOI：10.1109/TDMR.2007.901069

• atomic force microscopy
• bias annealing
• irradiation
• MOS devices
• reliability

This paper investigated the reliability of thin silicon dioxide (SiO(2)) subjected to irradiation followed by stress, using conductive atomic force microscopy (C-AFM). The I-V characteristics of localized spots on thin oxide films were measured before and after Co(60) gamma-ray irradiation. The oxide films were then subjected to a ramped voltage stress simultaneously during the I-V measurements. By taking advantage of a small contact area, we report for the first time the nanoscale postirradiation bias-annealing effect in thin S film using C-AFM. Based on SiO(2) the number of fluctuating current peaks appearing in the I-V curves of the pre- and posttreatment oxide films, as well as the calculated effective barrier height from the Fowler-Nordheim tunneling theory, we found that the trapped charge in the oxide films, but not the charge at the interface caused by Co(60) gamma-ray irradiation, can be effectively annealed out by a postirradiation ramped voltage.

• 出版日期2007-6