E. Cartier et al., ATOMIC HYDROGEN-INDUCED INTERFACE DEGRADATION OF REOXIDIZED-NITRIDED SILICON DIOXIDE ON SILICON, Applied physics letters, 64(7), 1994, pp. 901-903
Remote hydrogen plasma exposure is used to study the transport of atom
ic hydrogen, H-0, through reoxidized-nitrided oxides and SiO2 and to q
uantify H-0-induced degradation of their interfaces with silicon. It i
s directly demonstrated that (1) H-0 is extremely reactive and produce
s large numbers of interface states; (2) the transport of H-0 to the s
ilicon/oxide interface is strongly suppressed in reoxidized-nitrided o
xides; and (3) this suppression of the H-0 transport is mainly respons
ible for the much slower interface degradation of reoxidized-nitrided
oxides during high-field, hot-electron stress as compared to thermal o
xide.