Standardized Terminology for Oxide Charges Associated

with Thermally Oxidized Silicon

BRUCE E. DEAL
Abstruct-Standarized terminology for oxide charges associated with
the thermally oxidized silicon system is presented. This terminology is
recommended by a committee established by the Electronics Division
of the Electrochemical Society and the IEEE Semiconductor Interface
SpecialistsConference. All engineersandscientistsconcernedwith
oxide charges in silicon semiconductor applications are urged to adopt
this terminology.

MOS transistors were first produced on a commercial basis in

-2w t the 1963-1964 time period. At the same time, various charges
associated with the thermally oxidized silicon structure were
observed to cause serious yield and reliability problems. Sub-
-400 I I
4
I
8
I 1 I
1.2
I I
1.6
I I
2 sequently, a number of investigations concerned with oxide
TIME IMICROSECI. charges were startedin various laboratories and many have
Fig. 5. Channel currents I w 2 , Iw3, Iw4 (excessive input charge). continued to the present time [ 11 . Initially, most of the stud-
ies were designed to determine the dependence of charge den-
sities on processing parameters so that their adverse effects on
This is also true of the currents Iw3 and I w 4 . The principal device properties could be minimized. More recently, efforts
peaks of 1 ~ 2 Iw3,, and Iw4 decrease in height, while the have focused on a quantitative understanding of the densities,
satellite peaks increase. This also points t o incomplete charge cross sections, and the nature of oxide charges and traps so
transfer. that ultimate device performance might be achieved.
Excessive input charge, again, causes incomplete charge During the past 15 years or so, it has been generally estab-
transfer and backward transfer of residual charge. Fig. 5 refers lished that four general types of charges areassociated with
to a simulation with a single input pulse of large amplitude. the Si-Si02system [ 21 , [ 31. However, no common set of
The time scale is the same as in Fig. 2(b). The current I w 2 in symbols has been used to designate these four types of charges.
Fig. 5 has a peak at about 450 ns. At this time, E c l is high. This has caused substantial confusion and disagreement during
350 ns later, when Ec2 is high, Iwz showsa negative peak. discussions at technical meetings and in interpretation of the
This indicates the well W2 discharging in the direction of W1 large number of publications in the area of semiconductor pas-
in spite of the interveningbarrier B1. When E G ~is high sivation. This was emphasized by a survey undertaken by the
again, at 1200 ns, Iw2 has another positivepeak, which im- author in 1976 [ 4 ] .
plies transfer of residualcharge inthe“forward”direction. Because of the lack of a common terminology foroxide
The currents I w 3 and Iw4 behave in a similar way. charges, a committee was established in January 1978 by the
The model discussed here differs from earlier models [61 in Electronics Division of the Electrochemical Societyandthe
giving explicit recognition to the role of the electron quasi- IEEE-sponsored SemiconductorInterface Specialists Confer-
Fermipotential &, As a consequence,thebookkeeping of ence, The names and affiliations of the committee members
the inversion charge becomes automatic and rigorous. The along with those representing the sponsoring groups are listed
sharing of inversioncharge between a potential well and a below.
junction capacitor is a problem where correct bookkeeping is
Bruce E. Deal Fairchild Camera and
Instrument
important.Themodel is applicable tosituationsin which
Corp.,
( C o m m iCt theaei r m a n )
there is an ion implant beneath a barrier gate. It may also be
extended t o bulk-channel CTD’s. Such an extension will be Palo Alto, CA
discussed in a future publication. W. Murray Bullis National
Bureau of Standards,
Washington, DC
ACKNOWLEDGMENT Sidney R. Butler Lehigh University,
Bethlehem, PA
It is a pleasure to acknowledge my debt to H. I. Stoller for Edward H. Nicollian Bell Telephone Laboratories,
many useful discussions and to R. D. Bradshaw, A. J. Jimenez, Murray Hill, NJ
and P. M. Mortello for help with the circuit analysis program Donald R. Young IBM Corporation
and graphics. Yorktown Heights, NY
Arnold
Reisman IBM Corporation,
REFERENCES (ECS Electronics
Yorktown Heights, NY
[ 11 T. Ohtsuki and K. Kani, “A unified modeling scheme for semicon- Division)
ductor devices with applications of state-variable analysis,” IEEE Texas
A1 Tasch Instruments,
Trans. Circuit Theory, vol. CT-17, pp. 26-32, Feb. 1970. (IEEE SISC) Dallas, TX
[2] C. T.Sah, “The equivalent circuit model in solid-state electronics- Pieter Balk Technischen
Hochschule Aachen,
111,” Solid-State Electron., vol. 13, pp. 1547-1575,1970. (Europe
Aachen,
repre-
Germany
[ 3 ] S. M. Sze, Physics of Semiconductor Devices. New York: Wiley, sentative)
1969, pp. 5 1 1-5 12.
[4] H. K. Gummel, “A self-consistent iterative scheme for one-dimen-
sional steady state transistor calculations,” IEEE Trans. Electron
Takuo Sugano
(Japan repre-
sentative)
Univer ity of Tokyo
Toky , Japan. s
Devices, vol. ED1 1,pp. 455-465, 1964.
[5] “Automated statistical transient analysisprogram,” IBM Manual,
User Guide SH20-1118, Mechanicsburg, PA. Manuscript received October 25, 1979.
[6] H. S. Lee,“Analysisofthemergedchargememory (MCM) cell,” The author is with the Research and Development Laboratory, F&-
IBMJ. Res. Develop., vol. 21, pp. 402-414,1977. child Camera and Instrument Corporation,Palo Alto, CA 94304.

0018-9383/80/0300-0606$00.750 1980 IEEE

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRON
DEVICES, VOL. ED-27, NO. 3, MARCH 1980 607

ri I
(
O F\ Kt MOBILE IONIC

-- - - --- - - -G r H ;
~~

--)t
INTERFACE
+ -+ +/?--
--3t-+
TRAPPED CHARGE
SIO,
*
SI
can thus be charged or discharged, depending on the surface
potential. Most of the interfacz trapped charge can be neu-
tralized by low-temperature (450 C) hydrogen annealing. This
charge type in thepast has beencalled surface states, fast states,
interface states, etc.
Oxide Trapped Charge: May be positive or negative due to
holes or electrons trapped in the bulk of the oxide. Trapping
mayresult from ionizing radiation, avalanche injection,or
other similar processes. Unlike fixed charge, oxidetrapped
charge is generally annealed out by low4emperature (<5OO0C)
treatment, although neutral trapsmay remain.
In general, the densities of all of the charges except interface
Fig. 1. Names and location of charges in thermally oxidized silicon. trapped charge may be determined using the high-frequency
capacitance-voltage (C-V)technique. More elaborate mea-
surement procedures such as “quasi-sta,tic C-lr analysis” are
The committee metover a one and one-half year period, dur- required for interface trapcharge.
ing which time a number of specialists in silicon passivation The symbols selected to denote the oxidecharges were based
were solicited for opinions and guidance.This was done by on the following assumptions:
personal contact, discussions at technical meetings, and a de-
tailed survey. - Several general preferences regarding a standard Q net effective charge per unit area at the Si-Si02 interface
terminology for oxide charges were evident. These were (C/cm2 >;
1)Standardization of oxide charge terminology is highly N net number of charges per unit area at the Si-Si02 inter-
desirable. face (number/cm2).
2) Such a terminology system shouldbe as simple as possible,
i.e., subscripts for symbols should be one letter if possible. Thus I Q / q I = N where q is the electronic charge.
3) The symbols and subscripts should indicate suggest or the The sign of Q is either positive or negative depending on
nature of the charge type. whether the majorityof charge is positive or negative. By defi-
4) A symbol representing a given charge should not be easily nition, however, N is always positive. Also, it should be kept
confused with anyof those representing the othercharge types. in mind that Q and N are defined as effective net charge at the
5) If possible, the symbols selected should not be the same Si-Si02 interface, even though the actual charge density may
as those used previously by any appreciable segment of semi- be considerably larger if the charge is located some distance
conductor technologists. from that interface. Uncharged trapping centers are not cov-
These and other considerations were discussed in considerable ered by this proposed terminology.
detail by the committee. Various sets of symbols were pro- Following are the recommended symbols for the four types
posed and problems associated with each set were noted. For of oxide charge:
instance, a symbol subscript which might give rise to confusion
wouldbe “i7’ which stands for both “interface” and “ion.” -Fixed OxideCharge Qf Nf
Thus the single letter ‘V” should probably not be used as a Mobile Ionic Charge Qm 9 Nm
subscript. Likewise, the use of only “o” or “ox” as subscripts
could represent any or all of the charge types and also should
-Interface _Trapped Charge Qi,, Nit
not be used. -Oxide Trapped Charge Qot,Not.
Finally, at a meeting of the committee in May 1979 (Spring As indicated above, the charges represented by the above
Meeting of The Electrochemical Society, Boston) a final ter- symbols are expressed in terms of density per unit area. In one
minology was agreed upon.Insofar as practical, the general particular case, that of interface trapped charge, it is common
preferences were observed. Where this turned out not to be to express its density in terms of unit area and energy in the
possible because of mutually conflicting requirements,the silicon bandgap. Therefore, a special symbol is recommended:
compromise thought to result in the least confusion and am-
biguity was selected.
The recommended names for the four types of oxide charges
-Interface Trap Density Dit (number/cm2 * eV).
illustrated in Fig. 1 are: The committee strongly urges all scientists and engineers ac-
Fixed Oxide Charge: Positive charge, due primarily to struc- tive in silicon oxide work to use the above terminology in oral
tural defects (ionized silicon) in the oxide layer less than 25 a presentationsorwritten publications. It is recognized that
from the Si-Si02 interface. The density of this charge, whose after15 years of using a particularsystem, some emotional
origin is related to the oxidation process, depends on oxida- attachment to some particular nomenclature may exist. How-
tion ambient and temperature, cooling conditions, and on sili- ever, those persons “brought up” on designating fixed oxide
con orientation. Since fixed oxide charge density cannot be charge as Qssshould remember that others have used, just as
determined unambiguously in the presence of moderate densi- diligently, the same symbol for interface traps (or East states,
ties of interface trapped charge, it is only measured after a orsurfacestates,orinterfacetraps,etc). Likewise, other
low-temperature (-45OOC) hydrogentreatment which mini- groups refer to fixed charge as Qox (or Q f c or No or Q,, etc.).
mizes interface trap density. Fixed oxide charge is not in elec- The only way to resolve the difficulties and confusionregarding
trical communication with theunderlying silicon. oxide charge terminology which have persisted for 1 5 or more
Mobile Ionic Charge: Primarily due to ionic impurities such years is for everyone to decide that one system should be used
as Li+, Na’, K+, and possibly H’. Negative ionsand heavy and that some compromise in personal feeling on everyones’
metals may contribute to this charge even though they are not part will be required.
mobile below 5OO0C.
Interface Trapped Charge: Positive or negative charges, due ACKNOWLEDGMENT
to 1) structural, oxidation-induced defects, 2) metal impurities,
or 3) other defects caused by radiation or similar bond break- Theauthor wishes to thankthe above namedcommittee
ing processes. They are located at the Si-Si02 interface. Un- members for theirvaluable assistance during the course of these
like fixed charge or trapped charge, interface trapped charge is efforts. Also, considerable thanks are due to many individuals
in electrical communication with the underlying silicon and who contributed opinions andsuggestions to theCommittee.
608 IEEE TRANSACTIONS
ON ELECTRON
DEVICES, VOL. EL?-27, NO. 3, MARCH 1.980

REFERENCES oxidized silicon structure,” j:, Electr(x%!em.Soc., vol. 121, p.

[ 11 A.H.Agajanian, Semiconductor Devices. A Bibliography ofFabri-
cation Technology, Properties, and Applications. New York, NY:
Plenum, 1976, pp. 547-619.
[2] B. E. Deal, “The current understanding of charges in the thermally
188C, 1974.
I [3] Y. C. Cheng, “Electronic state:$ at the tilicon-silicon dioxide inter-
face,” Progr. Surface Sei., vol. 8, p, 181, 1977.
[ 4 ] B. E. Deal in SemiconductorSilicon--l977, H. R. Huff andE.
Sirtl, Eds. Princeton, NJ: Electrochem. SOC.,1977, pp. 276-296.

Correspondence -

Erratum

In the Contributors section of the September 1979 issue of

this TRANSACTIONS the photographs of two authors, David
Vernon Morgan and Kamel D. Al-Baidhawi,’ were inadver-
tently interchanged.
The Editor expresses his apologies.

STEPHENKNIGHT
Editor

David Vernon Morgan received the B.Sc. degree

at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth,
and the Ph.D. degree at the University of Cam-
bridge, Cambridge, England.
He held a University of Wales Fellowship at
the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, from
1966 to 1968, and a Harwell Fellowship from
1968 t o 1970. He was a Visiting Scientist at
Chalk River Nuclear Laboratory, Canada, in
1972 and 1975, and visiting Professor at Cor-
nell University, Ithaca, NY, in 1978. He is now
a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Electrical and Electronic En-
gineering atthe University of Leeds, Leeds, England. His research
interests include the physics and technology of semiconductor materials
and devices with particular interest in microwave devices.

Kamel D. Al-Baidhawi was born in Nassriyah,

Iraq, on June 15, 1952. He received the B.Sc.
degree in electrical and electronic engineering
from Leeds University, Leeds, England,in 1974.
During the same year he wona University
Scholarship to work on Schottky-barrier devices
and received the Ph.D. degree in 1977.
Heis nowemployed by the Abu Dhabi Oil
Company On-shore Oil Operations and works
on electronic control systems.
Dr. Al-Baidhawi is an associate member of the
Institution of Electrical Engineers, England.

Manuscript received October 9, 1979.

‘“Contributors,” IEEE Trans. Electron Devices, vol. ED-26, no. 9,
pp. 1380, 1383, Sept. %979.