Electrical properties of silicon nitride films deposited by catalytic chemical vapor deposition on catalytically nitrided Si(100)

Thin film transistor incorporating silicon nitride (SiN_x) films deposited by catalytic chemical vapor deposition (Cat-CVD) on silicon exhibit some problems such as a large-threshold voltage shift and a large hysteresis loop width of the capacitance vs. voltage (C–V) characteristics. In this work, in order to solve these problems, the surface of the silicon substrate is catalytically nitrided before SiN_x deposition. Inserting the nitridation layer, injection-type hysteresis loop of C–V curve is reduced from 1.3 to 0.05 V and large threshold voltage shift to the negative direction is reduced from 4 to 1.8 V.