HIGH-QUALITY ULTRATHIN DIELECTRIC FILMS GROWN ON SILICON IN A NITRIC-OXIDE AMBIENT

High quality ultrathin silicon oxynitride films (3.5 nm) have been gro wn in a nitric oxide ambient using rapid thermal processing. The physi cal and electrical properties of these films are compared with those f ormed in a nitrous oxide environment. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) results show that the nitric oxide (NO) grown films have a sign ificantly different nitrogen distribution compared to the nitrious oxi de (N2O) grown films. The capacitance-voltage and current-voltage char acteristics of the NO grown and NO-modified films are, in general, bet ter than those of the same thickness grown in either N2O or O2.