EFFECTS OF NITRIC-OXIDE ANNEALING OF THERMALLY GROWN SILICON DIOXIDE CHARACTERISTICS

The effects of nitric oxide (NO) annealing on conventional thermal oxi des are reported in this letter. The oxide thickness increase, resulti ng from NO annealing, is found to be only a few angstroms (<0.5 nm) an d independent on the initial oxide thickness, Furthermore, both the el ectrical and physical characteristics are improved, This technique is expected to achieve sub-5 nm high quality ultrathin dielectric films f or the applications in EEPROM's and ULSI.