THE EFFECT OF COPPER CONTAMINATION ON FIELD OVERLAP EDGES AND PERIMETER JUNCTION LEAKAGE CURRENT

This work demonstrates that copper contamination present on pre gate-o xidation silicon surfaces results in yield and reliability problems pa rticularly at field overlap edges. Similarly, the junction leakage cur rent associated with the junction perimeter dominates the total leakag e current. These detrimental device effects are shown to be caused by copper that is present close to the silicon surface even after thermal processing. Because field overlap and junction perimeter defects beco me relatively more important when the critical dimensions of circuits are scaled to smaller sizes, they dominate yield loss of high-density circuits, magnifying their importance for future technology generation s.