Wafer charging in process equipment and its relationship to GMRheads charging damage

Significant know-how and understanding of device charging damage in processing equipment exists in complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) integrated circuit (IC) manufacturing. This paper introduces the basic charging mechanisms responsible for gate oxide damage in CMOS ICs, illustrates these mechanisms with examples of measurements obtained in contemporary IC processing equipment, and shows how this knowledge could be applied to the control of charging damage in GMR heads wafer processing. A wafer charging characterization method successfully used by integrated circuit and equipment manufacturers to quantify wafer charging in process equipment is also described     

Plasma charging damage on ultrathin gate oxides

Capacitor C-V and threshold voltage and subthreshold swing of MOSFET's with gate oxide thickness varying from 2.2 to 7.7 nm are analyzed to study the plasma charging damage by the metal etching process. Surprisingly, the ultrathin gate oxide has better immunity to plasma charging damage than the thicker oxide, thanks to the excellent tolerance of the thin gate oxide to tunneling current. This finding has very positive implications for the prospect of manufacturable scaling of gate oxide to very thin thickness     

Simulating process-induced gate oxide damage in circuits

Advanced processing techniques such as plasma etching and ion implantation can damage the gate oxides of MOS devices and thus pose a problem to circuit reliability. In this paper, we present a simulator which predicts oxide failure rates during and after processing and pinpoints strong charging current locations in the layout where changes can be made to improve circuit hot-carrier reliability. We present the models and experimental results used to develop the simulator and demonstrate the usefulness of this simulator     

Monitoring plasma-process induced damage in thin oxide

Plasma etching and resist ashing processes cause current to flow through the thin oxide and the resultant plasma-induced damage can be simulated and modeled as damage produced by constant current electrical stress. The oxide charging current produced by plasma processing increases with the `antenna' size of the device structure. Oxide charge measurement such as CV or threshold voltage is a more sensitive technique for characterizing plasma-processing induced damage than oxide breakdown. The oxide charging current is collected only through the aluminum surfaces not covered by the photoresist during plasma processes. Although forming gas anneal can passivate the traps generated during plasma etching, subsequent Fowler-Nordheim stressing causes more traps to be generated in these devices than in devices that have not been through plasma etching. Using the measured charging current, the breakdown voltage distribution of oxides after plasma processes can be predicted accurately. Oxide shorts density of a single large test capacitor is found to be higher than that in a multiple of separated small capacitors having the same total oxide area. This would lead to overly pessimistic oxide defect data unless care is taken     

Verification and reduction of surface charging during high/medium current implantations by implementing plasma damage monitoring

Dielectric charging damage during IC processing is the result of complex interactions between the wafer environment and the wafer itself. Understanding these interactions and recognizing the relative importance of the different mechanisms capable of causing damage, is essential for successful diagnosis and control of charging damage during wafer manufacturing. Avoiding gate oxide damage due to excessive wafer charging has always been an issue with high current implanters. Whether it is caused by shrinking of device dimensions, or its use as a backup for high current applications, charging level awareness becomes the primary limiting factor for running higher beam currents in medium current implanters. Flooding the wafer with low energy electrons from a plasma flood gun (PFG) which is a self-regulated electron shower, has been the widely accepted means of reducing wafer charging. The effectiveness of the PFG in reducing charging as a function of primary ion current, voltage of electron extraction from the PFG, ion beam positioning and other parameters in a beam path to the wafer have been investigated. This investigation was carried out on medium and high current implanters, VIISta 810HP and VIIStaHC respectively, using the plasma damage monitoring (PDM) technique on metrology tool FAaST350.     

Plasma damage in thin gate MOS dielectrics and its effect on device characteristics and reliability

Plasma process-induced damage continues to be a great threat and concern in the modern CMOS technologies. This article concentrates on NMOS vs. PMOS device sensitivity to plasma charging originating from the various processing steps. This dependence is studied with respect to the gate oxide thickness, and large antenna devices are used to evaluate device yield, latent damage, and residual effect of charging on device performance and reliability. Specific studies are performed to explore the resistance to the charging damage in CMOS devices with a 50 Å gate oxide grown with various oxidation processes.     

Modeling of oxide breakdown from gate charging during resist ashing

Plasma damage was observed after exposing an antenna capacitor structure to an O₂ plasma in a single wafer resist asher. The observed early breakdown is well modeled by surface charging caused by plasma nonuniformity. Here, the plasma nonuniformity was induced by gas flow and electrode configuration. The present results agree well with our previous results where magnetic field leads to a nonuniform plasma. In this model, nonuniformity leads to a local imbalance of ion and electron currents which charge up the gate surface and degrade the gate oxide. Using SPICE, a circuit model for the test structure and plasma measurements, the Fowler-Nordheim current through the thin oxide regions at different points on the wafer was calculated and found to agree well with the observed damage. The important implication of this work on oxide reliability is that the modeling gives a clear picture to this breakdown mechanism. The charging model can also be applied to any ashing process in any nonuniform plasma. Moreover, this model provides a physical basis for design rules of device structures for the fabrication of reliable gate oxides in submicron MOS technology     

Effects of wafer temperature on plasma charging induced damage toMOS gate oxide

The effect of wafer temperature on damage to thin MOS gate oxide from plasma has been investigated for the first time. As the wafer surface temperature during an O₂ plasma exposure increases from 145°C to 340°C, the damage measured from charge-to-breakdown (Q_bd) increases dramatically. This result agrees with Fowler-Nordheim tunneling current mechanism for plasma charging and the temperature activated damage model. The increase of damage at higher wafer processing temperature indicates that elevated temperature plasma processes, such as plasma enhanced CVD and Cu etching, can be expected to be more susceptible to charging damage than low temperature plasma processes     

等离子体工艺引起的MOSFET栅氧化层损伤

在深亚微米 MOS集成电路制造中 ,等离子体工艺已经成为主流工艺。而等离子体工艺引起的栅氧化层损伤也已经成为限制 MOS器件成品率和长期可靠性的一个重要因素。文中主要讨论了等离子体工艺引起的充电损伤、边缘损伤和表面不平坦引起的电子遮蔽效应的主要机理 ,并在此基础上讨论了减小等离子体损伤的有效方法。     

Hole trap generation in the gate oxide due to plasma-inducedcharging

The paper presents results of hole trapping studies in-thin gate oxide of plasma damaged MOS transistors. Process-induced damage was investigated with antenna test structures to enhance the effect of plasma charging. In addition to neutral electron traps and passivated interface damage, which are commonly observed plasma charging latent damage, we observed and identified hole traps, generated by plasma stress. The amount of hole traps increases with increasing antenna ratio, indicating that the mechanism of hole trap generation is based on electrical stress and current flow, forced through the oxide during plasma etching. The density of hole traps in the most damaged devices was found to be larger than that in reference, undamaged devices by about 100%     

A multiple-terminal gate charging model

A gate charging model considering charging effect at all terminals of a MOSFET is reported in this letter. The model indicates two distinct charging mechanisms existing in P MOSFETs with a protecting device at their gates during plasma processing. The "normal-mode" charging mechanism exists when antenna size at the gate is higher than that at other terminals combined. In contrast, the "reverse-mode" charging mechanism exists in the case of antenna size at the gate lower than that at other terminals combined. The normal-mode mechanism will dominate the charging event when there is no protecting device at the transistor gate or the protecting device provides very low leakage current. On the other hand, the reverse-mode mechanism becomes dominant if the protecting device provides very high leakage current. The normal-mode charging mechanism is limited by the N-well junction leakage while in the reverse-mode mechanism, it is limited by the leakage of the protecting device. The model also suggests that larger N-well junction gives rise to higher charging damage in the normal-mode mechanism while it is opposite in the reverse-mode mechanism. These were confirmed by experimental data. The model points out that a zero charging damage can be achieved at certain combinations of the gate, source, drain and N-well antenna ratio. The knowledge of these transistor terminal antenna-ratio combinations will maximize the effective usage of the charging protection devices in circuit design. The reverse-mode charging mechanism suggests that the use of a high-leakage device at the transistor gate for charging protection may cause an opposite effect when the transistor terminal antenna ratios run into a condition that triggers this mechanism. This implies that PMOS transistors with gate intentionally pinned at ground or low potential in circuits may be prone to charging damage depending on the connectivity of their source, drain, and NW.     

半导体电浆制程的危害及防治

随着半导体制造技术推进到更加先进的深亚微米技术,电浆已被越来越广泛的应用在半导体的制造过程中。由于电浆环境充斥着高能量的粒子和带电的离子及电子,所以对半导体元件结构有潜在性的破坏效应。而这种破坏效应主要是对栅极氧化层的电性损伤,进而影响器件的良率及可靠性。因此我们必须要了解电浆损伤的成因及科学的侦侧方法,并在此基础上试图找到一些方法防止电浆损伤的发生。文章讨论了半导体电浆制程对器件的危害及防治措施。     

Plasma-charging damage in ultra-thin gate oxide

The impact of plasma-charging damage on ultra-thin gate oxide is discussed. The argument for plasma-charging damage becoming less important is examined. Without considering the area and failure rate scaling effect, one mode of charging damage does become less important while other modes continue to be a serious problem. After scaling is properly accounted for, all charging damage remains a serious problem. The problem is more serious for thinner gate oxides because its life time becomes a limiting factor in device scaling. No one has yet made proper measurement for charging damage in the ultra-thin gate oxide regime. Stress-induced leakage current with properly designed tester may be used for ultra-thin gate-oxide damage measurement if one has the required sensitivity in the measurement. However, one must take care to use stress to reveal the latent defects that are hidden by annealing.     

Nondestructive DCIV method to evaluate plasma charging damage inultrathin gate oxides

Understanding and minimizing plasma charging damage to ultrathin gate oxides became a growing concern during the fabrication of deep submicron MOS devices. Reliable detecting techniques are essential to understand its impact on device reliability. As the gate oxide thickness of MOSTs rapidly scales down, the conventional nondestructive methods such as capacitor C-V and threshold voltage and subthreshold swing of MOSTs are no longer effective for evaluating this damage in gate oxide. In this paper, the newly developed direct-current current-voltage (DCIV) technique is reported as an effective monitor for plasma charging damage in ultrathin oxide. The DCIV measurements for p-MOSTs with both 50- and 37-Å gate oxides clearly show the plasma charging damage region on the wafers and are consistent with the results of charge-to-breakdown measurements. In comparing with charge-to-breakdown measurement and other conventional methods, the DCIV technique hits the advantages of nondestructiveness, high sensitivity and rapid evaluation     

反应离子刻蚀铝中nMOS 器件的等离子充电损伤

介绍在等离子工艺中的等离子充电损伤,并且利用相应的反应离子刻蚀(RIE)Al的工艺试验来研究在nMOSFET器件中的性能退化。通过分析天线比(AR)从100:1到10000:1的nMOSFET器件的栅隧穿漏电流,阈值Vt漂移,亚阈值特性来研究由Al刻蚀工艺导致的损伤。试验结果表明在阈值Vt漂移中没有发现与天线尺寸相关的损伤,而在栅隧穿漏电流和低源漏电场下亚阈值特性中发现了不同天线比的nMOS器件有相应的等离子充电损伤。在现有的理解上对在RIEAl中nMOS器件等离子充电损伤进行了讨论,并且基于这次试验结果对减小等离子损伤提出了一些建议。     

Fabrication and characterization of 4H-SiC planar MESFETs

The planar 4H-SiC MESFETs were fabricated by employing an ion-implantation process instead of a recess gate etching process, which is commonly adapted in compound semiconductor MESFETs, to eliminate potential damage to the gate region during etching process. Excellent ohmic and Schottky contact properties were achieved by using the modified RCA cleaning of 4H-SiC surface and the sacrificial thermal oxide layer. The fabricated MESFETs was also free from drain current instability, which the most of SiC MESFETs have been reported to suffer for the charge trapping. The drain current recovery characteristics were also improved by passivating the surface with a thermal oxide layer and eliminating the charge trapping at the surface. The performance of fabricated MESFETs was characterized by analyzing the small-signal equivalent circuit parameters extracted from the measured parameters.     

A model and experiments for thin oxide damage from wafer chargingin magnetron plasmas

A physically based model that has been developed to explain the role of plasma nonuniformity in charge damage to oxides is presented. For a uniform plasma the local conduction currents to the water surface integrate to zero over the RF period, and the surface charging is sufficient to damage oxides. For the case of thin oxides under a gate exposed to a nonuniform magnetron plasma, the gate surface can charge up until the oxide tunneling current balances the difference in the mean local conduction currents from the plasma. It is this oxide current that leads to degradation. The oxide current obtained via SPICE circuit simulations, probe measurements and breakdown measurements shows good agreement with experimental damage data of `antenna' capacitors     

HDP介质淀积引起的等离子充电损伤机制研究

高密度等离子体化学气相淀积(HDP CVD),具有卓越的填孔能力和可靠的电学特性等诸多优点,因此它被广泛应用于超大规模集成电路制造工艺中.本文研究了金属层间介质(IMD)的HDP CVD过程对栅氧化膜的等离子充电损伤.研究表明在HDP淀积结束时的光电导效应使得IMD层(包括FSG和USG)在较短的时间内处于导电状态,较大电流由IMD层流经栅氧化膜,在栅氧化膜中产生缺陷,从而降低了栅氧化膜可靠性.通过对HDP CVD结束后反应腔内气体组分的调节,IMD层的光电导现象得到了一定程度的抑制,等离子充电损伤得到了改善.     

Effect of low and high temperature anneal on process-induced damageof gate oxide

We have investigated the ability of high and low temperature anneals to repair the gate oxide damage due to simulated electrical stress caused by wafer charging resulting from plasma etching, etc. Even 800°C anneal cannot restore the stability in interface trap generation. Even 900°C anneal cannot repair the deteriorated charge-to-breakdown and oxide charge trapping. As a small consolation, the ineffectiveness of anneal in repairing the process-induced damage allows us to monitor the damages even at the end of the fabrication process