Oxide/nitride stacked gate dielectric and associated methods
First Claim
1. A method of making a dielectric layer for a semiconductor device, the method comprising the steps of:
- forming an oxide layer on a semiconductor substrate; and
forming a defective nitride layer on the oxide layer using direct plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition so that the defective nitride layer is permeable to oxygen, the defective nitride layer being formed while exposing the plasma with a magnetic field for providing a uniform energy distribution across a surface of the oxide layer.
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Abstract
A method for making an oxide/nitride stacked layer makes the nitride layer defective so that it is semi-transparent or permeable to oxygen. The method includes first forming an oxide layer on a semiconductor substrate. The defective nitride layer is formed on the oxide layer using direct plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition. The defective nitride layer is formed while exposing the plasma with a low energy magnetic field for providing a uniform energy distribution across a surface of the oxide layer. A resulting distribution of thicknesses of the defective nitride layer has a standard deviation less than about 1.5% across a wafer. The defective nitride layer is permeable to oxygen so that when the semiconductor substrate is annealed, the interface trap sites are significantly reduced or eliminated.
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Citations
41 Claims
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1. A method of making a dielectric layer for a semiconductor device, the method comprising the steps of:
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forming an oxide layer on a semiconductor substrate; and
forming a defective nitride layer on the oxide layer using direct plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition so that the defective nitride layer is permeable to oxygen, the defective nitride layer being formed while exposing the plasma with a magnetic field for providing a uniform energy distribution across a surface of the oxide layer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method of making a dielectric layer for a semiconductor device, the method comprising the steps of:
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forming an oxide layer on a semiconductor substrate; and
forming a defective nitride layer on the oxide layer using direct plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition so that the defective nitride layer is permeable to oxygen, the defective nitride layer being formed while exposing the plasma with a magnetic field for providing a uniform energy distribution across a surface of the oxide layer; and
annealing the dielectric layer so that the oxide layer has an interface trap site density in a range of about 0.5E10/cm2 to 5E10/cm2.- View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A method of making a dielectric layer for a semiconductor device, the method comprising the steps of:
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forming an oxide layer on a wafer comprising a plurality of semiconductor substrates; and
forming a defective nitride layer on the oxide layer using direct plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition so that the defective nitride layer is permeable to oxygen, the defective nitride layer being formed while exposing the plasma with a magnetic field for providing a uniform energy distribution of nitride thicknesses having a standard deviation of less than about 1.5% across the wafer. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
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Specification