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 Characterization of Surface States at the Si-SiO
Interface Using the Quasi-Static Technique
E. A. Fogels and C. A. T. Salama*
Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto 5, Ontario, Canada

ABSTRACT
The quasi-static technique is used to investigate the effect of processing
parameters on the surface-state density at the s i l i c o n - t h e r m a l l y grown silicon
dioxide interface. The d e t e r m i n a t i o n of the constant required for the e v a l u -
ation of surface potential from e q u i l i b r i u m C-V data is discussed. A rapid
method of estimating the midgap density of surface states is also described.
The dependence of surface-state density on substrate orientation, type of
oxide growth, h i g h - t e m p e r a t u r e a n n e a l i n g in nitrogen, l o w - t e m p e r a t u r e heat
t r e a t m e n t in forming gas, and t e m p e r a t u r e of oxide growth are discussed. The
interdependence b e t w e e n the fixed oxide charge and the surface-state density
is also investigated.

Several methods (1-4) have been developed for the
extraction of surface-state properties at the Si-SiO2
interface from m e a s u r e m e n t s of the electrical charac-
teristics of MOS ( m e t a l - o x i d e - s e m i c o n d u c t o r ) capaci-
tors. A m o n g these is the integration method (3) which
can be used in conjunction with low-frequency, t h e r -
mal e q u i l i b r i u m MOS capacitance-voltage data to ob-
tain the surface-state d e n s i t y distribution in energy.
A particular advantage of this method is that the sur-
face potential can be determined directly by a simple
integration of the e x p e r i m e n t a l results. Hence, the
errors i n surface-state densities arising from inaccu-
racies in doping or surface potential, or relating back
to ideal curves, are greatly reduced. While not as ac-
curate as the conductance method (4), the integration
method results in the d e t e r m i n a t i o n of surface-state
densities over a wider region of the bandgap energy
w i t h o u t the need for complex conductance m e a s u r e -
ments. Errors are also m i n i m i z e d because no graphical
differentiation of e x p e r i m e n t a l results is required as
in the differential (1) and t e m p e r a t u r e (2) methods.
The successful i m p l e m e n t a t i o n of any low-frequency,
t h e r m a l e q u i l i b r i u m method is directly dependent on
w h e t h e r or not the bias and signal voltages are capable
of creating and m a i n t a i n i n g the semiconductor i n v e r -
sion layer and the interface surface-state charges in
complete t h e r m a l e q u i l i b r i u m at all times. Deviations
from t h e r m a l equilibrium, which are commonly ob-
served at low t e m p e r a t u r e s or at high frequencies,
would completely invalidate any results based on the
integration method.
The original i m p l e m e n t a t i o n of the integration
method (3) used a phase-lock, l o w - f r e q u e n c y a-c
technique. The difficulty with this i m p l e m e n t a t i o n is
due to the presence of drift in the phase sensitive
detection system of the lock-in amplifier which i n t r o -
duces large errors in the output signal and therefore
in the calculated surface-state density. F u r t h e r m o r e ,
the l o w - f r e q u e n c y cutoff of the lock-in amplifier re-
stricts the m e a s u r e m e n t frequency used in this method
to above 1.5 Hz. Such a frequency is often not sufli-
ciently low to overcome the n o n e q u i l i b r i u m effects
that are a p p a r e n t in samples having typical inversion
layer response times of the order of a second or more.
A more desirable approach is to eliminate the i n -
stabilities associated with the lock-in amplifier and
reduce the effective m e a s u r i n g frequency ~, to such a
point that 1/~, is much greater t h a n the time constants
of the inversion layer and the surface~state charges,
thus e n s u r i n g that t h e r m a l e q u i l i b r i u m conditions are
satisfied. This has been achieved using the quasi-static
technique. This technique was first suggested by
Castagne (5, 6) and f u r t h e r investigated b y K u h n (7).
* Electrochemical Society Active Member.
K e y words: silicon, passivation, silicon dioxide, semiconductors.
It involves the m e a s u r e m e n t of the C-V characteristics
of MOS capacitors u n d e r application of a very slow
r a m p bias voltage. This technique is ideally suited for
surface-state m e a s u r e m e n t s on t h e r m a l l y oxidized sili-
con structures possessing moderate surface-state densi-
ties. With a m i n i m u m a m o u n t of i m p l e m e n t a t i o n a n d
data processing, the method leads to the d e t e r m i n a -
tion of the density of states over a considerable range
of surface potentials extending from h e a v y inversion
to heavy accumulation, with a sensitivity of about 10TM
states/cm2-eV for energies w i t h i n 0.25 eV of midgap.
The basic equations used in conjunction with the
quasi-static technique are briefly reviewed in this
paper and particular emphasis is placed on the deter-
m i n a t i o n of the integration constant required for the
e v a l u a t i o n of the surface potential from e q u i l i b r i u m
C-V data. A rapid method of obtaining the approximate
surface-state density near midgap is also described.
The quasi-static technique is then used to investigate
the effect of processing p a r a m e t e r s on the surface-state
density at the Si-SiO2 interface. The effects of some
of the processing parameters investigated here have
been previously reported using other techniques of
surface-state m e a s u r e m e n t which were restricted as to
the energy range covered and the frequency of the
measurement. Both of these limitations are minimized
in the quasi-static technique. A correlation of the fixed
oxide charge and the surface-state charge has been
included, w h e r e v e r possible, in order to investigate
any common origin for these two charges. The a d v a n -
tage of the quasi-static technique in such a n investi-
gation is that it determines directly the surface-state
density i n d e p e n d e n t l y of the fixed oxide charge (7).
Analysis
The following analysis, due to B e r g l u n d (3), can be
used to extract the surface potential and the surface-
state density from the e x p e r i m e n t a l l y determined low-
frequency (LF) C-V data obtained u n d e r t h e r m a l
e q u i l i b r i u m conditions. The e x p e r i m e n t a l variation of
surface potential ~s with respect to the oxide voltage
Vo is given b y 1
: -- - - 1 [1]
Csc + qNst CLF
where Co is the oxide capacitance for u n i t area, Csc is
the space charge capacitance per u n i t area, Nst is
the density of surface states in c m - 2 - e V -1, q is the
electronic charge, and CLF is the low-frequency, equi-
l i b r i u m MOS capacitance per u n i t area. For an ideal
capacitor with no surface states, Eq. [1] reduces to
1 T h e s u r f a c e p o t e n t i a l ~b8 is g i v e n b y (EF -- E~)/q w h e r e E~ and
E~ are t h e F e r m i a n d i n t r i n s i c e n e r g y l e v e l s r e s p e c t i v e l y .

2002
Vol. 118, No. 12 CHARACTERIZATION OF SURFACE STATES 2003

dq~s ) : Co determines an average value for the additive constant

[2] q~s (Vgl). The surface state density Nst, as a function of
(---~--~o r Cs~ q~s, is then obtained from Eq. [3].
For a k n o w n substrate doping and oxide capacitance, ApproximateSurface-State DensityNear Midgap
Eq. [2] can be evaluated theoretically for a n y ~ . The
surface-state density can t h e n be d e t e r m i n e d from the For q u a l i t y control purposes, it is often sufficient to
following equation obtain a single value of the surface-state density, Nst,
at some point such as the m i n i m u m of the LF C-V
d~s ) characteristic and assume that this value is representa-
tive of the effective density.
1 T Assuming a u n i f o r m surface-state density, the m i n -
Nst = -- 1 C~ [3]
dq~s ) ima of the ideal (theoretical) and e x p e r i m e n t a l low-
frequency C - ~s characteristics [curves (a) a n d (b)
respectively in Fig. 1] occur at the same value, ~'~, of
surface potential in the light inversion region near
The surface potential Cs(V~2) at a n y gate voltage
midgap. 5 The difference in the m i n i m u m capacitance
Vo_~ can be determined w i t h i n an additive constant
between the two curves can be directly related to the
q~(Vg~) from the integral (3) 2
surface-state density, N'st. This observation allows the
fVge ( CLF density of states near midgap (where they are most
Cs(V~D = ~v~ ,,1 ~ ) dVg + r [4] effective as r e c o m b i n a t i o n centers) to be evaluated
using the following equations:
The m i n i m u m space charge capacitance C'sc is given
The method of evaluating the constant, suggested by
Berglund (3), is to match the e x p e r i m e n t a l and theo- by Eq. [9]
retical dr curves in the a c c u m u l a t i o n region 9s [cosh (fl~b) ] '/=
where the effect of surface states can be neglected. The CPsc
matching points must be judiciously chosen to give LDi 1 -b 0.542 (fl~bb) -- 0.0115 ('sq~b)2
accurate results. If the matching is attempted in a re-
for (M~b) < 2 1 [9]
gion of h e a v y accumulation where Csc is v e r y large,
then CLF "~ Co and the value of (dq~s/dVo)E becomes where LD~ is the intrinsic Debye length. F r o m Eq. [1],
i m m e a s u r a b l y small a n d is obscured b y any error ACLF the surface-state density N'st at the m i n i m u m of the
in the measured value of eLF. On the other hand, if C - ~ characteristic is then given b y
matching is attempted in the region of light a c c u m u l a -
tion (near flat b a n d ) , C~c m a y be comparable to qNst N' Co + C ' sc [ C oC' sc ]
and again error in ~s(Vgl) m a y result. Assuming that q st-- ----'-- C'LF C' [10]
the error in d e t e r m i n i n g ~ (Vgt) is to be limited to hr Co-- C'LF Co+ sc
then the o p t i m u m range of ~s useful for m a t c h i n g can
where C'L~ is the m i n i m u m l o w - f r e q u e n c y capacitance
be obtained b y first solving the following equations for
limits on Csc obtained from the e x p e r i m e n t a l C-V or C -- ~s charac-
teristic. The second term in the brackets in Eq. [10] is
Cox fl A~s the m i n i m u m theoretical l o w - f r e q u e n c y capacitance.
Csc (upper limit) : [5]
2 (ACLF/CLF) I n general, the surface-state density is not u n i f o r m
over the whole energy gap and the m i n i m a of the ideal
2qNst and e x p e r i m e n t a l C - Cs curves will not coincide, as
Cs~(lower limit) -- - - [6] shown in Fig. 1. The value of surface-state density ob-
/3 ~ s tained from Eq. [10] then will be in error. However,
where /~ = q/kT. 3 Once the limits on Csc are deter- for typical MOS devices, the surface-state distribution
m i n e d from Eq. [5] a n d [6], the corresponding values is fairly constant near midgap and good accuracy
of r can be determined for a n n - t y p e semiconductor
(in the heavy accumulation region) from (8) ( r.D,-c,, )~.
5 V/, = 1/fl c o s h -a ,
Es

Csc ~ ~ exp [7]

LDe
w h e r e LDe is the extrinsic Debye length and es is the Vexperimeni'al" LF C-"u
semiconductor dielectric constant. The b u l k potential curves for :
@5is given b y
non u n i f o r m Nst
1 N
,r = -- :In ~ [8]
,8 ni
where N is the b u l k donor doping density and n~ is
the intrinsic density.
The surface-state distribution in energy in our i n -
vestigation is d e t e r m i n e d by a computer program 4
whose i n p u t consists of the substrate doping density
N, the oxide capacitance Co, and a p o i n t - b y - p o i n t eval- CLF
/
\
t

- _ '\~'~- ...... ~ / ./
I

uation of the e x p e r i m e n t a l L F capacitance-voltage

characteristics. The program solves Eq. [1] and [2] for , ',\ id..
the e x p e r i m e n t a l and theoretical values of d~JdVo, CLF . . . . . ~-':--r--- I ~ j'"-curv, for
matches these two curves over the range of surface
potentials obtained from Eq. [5], [6], and [7], and
CoCsc-- '~)'~'1~Propor::: :
2 I d e a l l y , i f Eq. [4] is e v a l u a t e d f r o m h e a v y a c c u m u l a t i o n t o
h e a v y i n v e r s i o n , t h e i n t e g r a l s h o u l d g i v e a v a l u e f o r Ca ( V g 2 ) --
c , ,o qN., ,o)
~8(Vuz) e q u a l t o , o r s l i g h t l y less t h a n , t h e b a n d g a p e n e r g y . A I
v a l u e greater than the energy gap indicates that gross n o n u n i -
f o r t u i t i e s a r e p r e s e n t e i t h e r i n t h e o x i d e or a t t h e o x i d e - s e m i c o n -
d u c t o r i n t e r f a c e a n d t h e a n a l y s i s can n o l o n g e r be a p p l i e d (3).
3 I n Eq. [5], (ACLF/CLF) is t h e e f f e c t i v e a c c u r a c y i n t h e m e a - SURFACE POTENTIAL ~Fs
s u r e m e n t of CLV. I n Eq. [6], t h e v a l u e of Nst is set a t 1 0 N ' , t , w h e r e
N',t is t h e a p p r o x i m a t e d e n s i t y o f s t a t e s n e a r m i d g a p as d e t e r m i n e d Fig. I. Effect of uniform and nonuniform density of states on the
f r o m Eq. [10]. T h e v a l u e 1O/V'at r e p r e s e n t s a w o r s t case c o n d i t i o n .
A v a i l a b l e on request. C-~s characteristics.
2004 J. EZectrochem. Soe.: SOLID STATE SCIENCE December 1971
(within _ 10%) can be obtained. The validity of this I
method is illustrated in the following sections.
S~." n - t y p e , 5J't-cm,(tO0]
Experimental Techniques C'~co Co: 0.055 pF/cm z
The i m p l e m e n t a t i o n of the quasi-static technique a: 50 mv/sec
used in this investigation is similar to the one de- hO
scribed b y K u h n (7). It involves the m e a s u r e m e n t of
the MOS capacitor displacement c u r r e n t density, Jc,
in response to a linear gate-voltage ramp, Vg = at. The
0.8
l o w - f r e q u e n c y capacitance, eLF, is related to the dis-
placement c u r r e n t density b y Je = aCLF. m

Measurements of surface-state densities at the Si-

SiO~ interface were carried out on suitably prepared 0.6
MOS capacitors. The silicon used in this work was in u

the form of polished circular slices (Monsanto), 2.5

cm in diameter, prepared by the Czochralski method. 0.4
The dislocation count was specified to be less t h a n 103
cm -2. The slices used were n - t y p e (phosphorus q I I I I
doped), of both (100) and (111) orientation, having -4 -2 0 +2 +4
resistivities r a n g i n g from 3 to 10 ohm-cm. The polished GATE VOLTAGE, Vg(vol*=}
silicon wafers were degreased and carefully cleaaed
(10) prior to oxidation. Fig. 2. LF thermal equilibrium C-V characteristics (oxide
Oxidation was generally carried out immediately growth, dry; growth temperature, 1100~ N2 anneal, ]]|O~ far
after cleaning. Dry or wet (95~ water) oxides were 30 min; H2 anneal, 450~ for 30 min after metallizatian).
grown in a resistively heated furnace provided with a
quartz tube and an a l u m i n a liner. Both the nitrogen
and oxygen gases were derived from liquid sources. I I I I I ' ' ' '
After oxidation and h i g h - t e m p e r a t u r e a n n e a l i n g (if
necessary), the slices were rapidly ( < 3 sec) quenched
to room temperature. A n n e a l i n g was carried out either
at the oxidation temperature, in the case of N2, or at , IOn
450~ in the case of forming gas. The thickness of the N

films was measured using a Talystep capable of _ 20A E 8

accuracy. Typical oxide thicknesses used in this i n -
vestigation ranged from 800 to 1500A.
The MOS structures were completed by evaporating
a l u m i n u m (99.999%) field plates, 1000A thick, 500 ~m
in diameter, over the oxide through a metal mask. A l u -
m i n u m was also evaporated on the bare back side of
the silicon to produce a n ohmic contact. The evapora-
Z
tions were carried out from a resistively heated, pre-
fired, t u n g s t e n filament in a v a c u u m of 3 • 10 -~ Torr.
After metallization, the o v e r - a l l oxide quality was
assessed b y measuring the fixed oxide charge, Qss, and
the mobile ionic charge, Qo, using h i g h - f r e q u e n c y
(HF) C-V m e a s u r e m e n t s and bias t e m p e r a t u r e (BT)
stress techniques. All of the samples investigated ex-
hibited m i n i m a l shift u n d e r BT stress at 150~ + 10V
for 10 m i n indicating no ionic contamination. The t y p i -
cal values of Q~s observed r a n g e d from 0.6 • 1011 to
4 X 1011 cm -2, depending on the oxide growth and a n -
n e a l i n g temperatures. The HF C-V characteristics
were also used to determine the effective substrate
doping and the oxide capacitance.
After assessing the densities of extraneous charges,
the surface-state density was determined. Figure 2
shows a typical C-V characteristic obtained at a bias
sweep rate of 50 mV/sec. A factor of ten increase in
the bias sweep rate resulted in negligible change in
the C-V characteristics, indicating that the ~required
e q u i l i b r i u m was obtained. For this particular sample,
the matching of the e x p e r i m e n t a l and theoretical d~s/
dVo was done for ~ b e t w e e n 0.375 and 0.430V, assum-
ing A~s < kT/2q and ACLF/CLF -~- 0.01. The corre-
sponding surface-state density is shown in Fig. 3.
The usefulness of the approximate method of deter-
m i n i n g n e a r midgap surface-state densities was veri-
fied for this sample. The value of N'st was 5.4 • 1010
states/cm2-eV, which is within 10% of the midgap
value of 6 • 1010 states/cm2-eV obtained from com-
puter calculations. For comparison purposes, some of
the surface-state density plots in the next section show
the estimated Nst as obtained from Eq. [10]. I n most
cases, good agreement b e t w e e n N'st a n d the actual
density of states was obtained.
Experimental Results and Discussion
A large n u m b e r of MOS samples were prepared and
the dependence of surface-state densities on the fol-
= 6
g 4
estimate)
I I I i I i I I I
-0.4 -0.2 0 +0.2 +0.4
~S (volts)
Fig. 3. Surface-state density vs. surface potential for the sample
shown in Fig. 2.
lowing processing parameters was investigated: (a)
substrate orientation and type of oxide growth, ( b )
h i g h - t e m p e r a t u r e a n n e a l i n g in nitrogen, (c) l o w - t e m -
p e r a t u r e heat t r e a t m e n t in forming gas, (d) t e m p e r a -
ture of oxide growth and fixed oxide charge, Qss.
The dependence of surface-state densities on orienta-
tion of the silicon substrate was evaluated using both
dry a n d wet oxides. The typical surface-state densities
obtained using dry oxides grown at ll00~ on (111)
and (100) oriented slices are shown in Fig. 4 [curves
(a) and ( b ) ] . As expected, the (100) p l a n e shows the
lowest over-all density of states. Similar results were
obtained using wet oxides, as shown in Fig. 4 [curves
(c) and (d) ] ; however, in general the density of states
was lower for wet t h a n for dry oxides. The lower
density of states in wet oxides is a t t r i b u t e d to the
a n n i h i l a t i o n of states by r a p i d l y migrating and highly
active hydrogen species originating from the water
vapor. These results are in general agreement with
those obtained by Brown (2), Nicollian (4), and A r -
nold (11).
The effect of nitrogen a n n e a l i n g at ll00~ on d r y -
grown oxides was investigated for both (100) a n d
(111) oriented slices. Whereas previous to annealing
the densities of surface states were quite different on
(100) and (111) slices, as shown in Fig. 4, after a n -
n e a l i n g the densities were not only reduced consider-
ably for both orientations b u t also approached ap-
proximately the same value near midgap, as shown
in Fig. 5 [curves (a), ( b ) ] . F u r t h e r m o r e , the midgap
Vol. 118, No. 12 CHARACTERIZATION OF SURFACE STATES 2005

I I I I 1 I I I I
' ' ' ' I ' ' ' '
6 Si: n - t ~ j p e , 5~-cm

1012 Si: n - t ~ j p e , 5 [ t - c m , ( l O 0 ) m
;.8

_ -

Z
et. I0"
4
8
Nst .... 6 (d)~
I I ! I I I I I I
i
-0.4 -0.2 0 +0.2 +0.4
-0.4 -0.2 0 * 0.2 + 0.4
% (volts)
% (volts)
Fig. 4. Dependence of surface-state density v s . surface potential Fig. 6. Effect of annealing in forming gas (oxide growth tempera-
on orientation and type of oxide growth. (Oxide growth tempera- ture, 1100~ oxide thickness ~___ 1000.~). (a) no anneal; (b) H2
ture, |]O0~ oxide thickness ~-~ |000/'~; no annealing). anneal, 450~ for 30 rain prior to metallization, (c) H2 anneal,
450~ for 30 min after metallization; (d) N2 anneal, 1100~ for
30 rain followed by H2 anneal, 450~ for 30 rain after metalliza-
I I I I I I t I I tion).

4 - S;: n - t i . j p e , 5.P,-cm
following conditions: (a) wet grown oxide + a l u m i -
, n u m metallization, (b) wet g r o w n oxide + f o r m i n g
gas heat t r e a t m e n t + a l u m i n u m metallization, (c) wet
.% 2 -I\ \ / (,ooze, g r o w n oxide + a l u m i n u m metallization + forming gas
22 dr• _ heat treatment.
Curves (a), (b) a n d (c) in Fig. 6 show that heat
t r e a t m e n t of wet oxides in f o r m i n g gas in the presence
of a reactive m e t a l such as a l u m i n u m is the most ef-
I012 fective in reducing the surface-state density. The re-
~, 8 duction in surface-state densities after forming-gas
heat t r e a t m e n t is a t t r i b u t e d to adsorption of active
z 6
hydrogen at the Si-SiO2 interface. The a l u m i n u m (15-
17) causes a f u r t h e r reduction in surface-state density
4 - Nst--~"J by reacting with w a t e r adsorbed at the oxide surface
d u r i n g the heat treatment. Hydrogen is released and
I I I I I I I I I migrates to the Si-SiO2 interface. This h y d r o g e n
-0.4 -0.2 0 + 0.2 § 0.4 (atomic or ionic) is thus available for b o n d i n g to a n y
% (volts) uncompensated bonds which are believed to be a pos-
sible origin of fast states at t h a t interface. As the
Fig. 5. Effect of N2 annealing on surface-state density in dry dangling bonds are saturated, the density of fast states
grown oxides (oxide growth temperature, 1100~ N2 anneal at is reduced. It has been postulated (18) that ionic Si
1100~ for 30 min; oxide thickness ~ 1000A). centers acting either as acceptor or donor states m a y
be reduced according to the reaction
densities observed were close to those obtained on u n - Si + H ~ S i -- H
a n n e a l e d wet oxides of either orientation. However,
the total density of states integrated over the b a n d g a p However, S i - - H bonds are not stable at elevated t e m -
was still lowest for wet, u n a n n e a l e d oxides on (100) peratures. This explains w h y l o w - t e m p e r a t u r e heat-
orientation slices. t r e a t m e n t s reduce the surface-state density even in
Nitrogen a n n e a l i n g was also observed to reduce the w e t - g r o w n oxides where hydrogen is expected to be
fixed oxide charge Qss (12) at the Si-SiO2 interface. plentiful.
This reduction is the result of traps, induced b y a n - Also shown in Fig. 6, curve (d), is the surface-state
n e a l i n g (13, 14), competing with the oxide-silicon i n - density for a dry oxide grown at ll00~ a n d subjected
terface for electrons donated b y the ionic silicon.6 to a nitrogen a n n e a l at the growth t e m p e r a t u r e and
Trapped electrons effectively decrease the net fixed then to a forming-gas a n n e a l at 450~ after a l u m i n u m
oxide charge Qss m e a s u r e d b y the H F C-V technique. metallization. This combination of anneals resulted in
The effect of l o w - t e m p e r a t u r e heat t r e a t m e n t of ox- the lowest midgap surface-state density (6 • 10l0
ides in forming gas (5% H2, 95% N2) at 450~ was c m - L e V -1) as well as the lowest fixed oxide charge
also investigated by comparing the surface-state densi- (6 • 101~ cm -2) observed in this investigation and
ties observed on (100) oriented substrates u n d e r the appears to be the o p t i m u m processing method of ob-
t a i n i n g both low oxide charge and low surface-state
These t r a p s a r e also able to i n t e r a c t w i t h s o d i u m donor s i t e s density.
b y t r a p p i n g the s o d i u m electrons a n d h e n c e localizing a n y m o b i l e
s o d i u m ions. T h i s e x p l a i n s the e x p e r i m e n t a l l y o b s e r v e d i m p r o v e - The effect of t e m p e r a t u r e of oxidation on the sur-
m e n t in s t a b i l i t y of s o d i u m - c o n t a m i n a t e d s a m p l e s a f t e r n i t r o g e n face-state density was also investigated using d r y ox-
a n n e a l i n g , a l t h o u g h the total s o d i u m c o n c e n t r a t i o n in t h e s a m p l e
r e m a i n e d fixed. ides grown at 900% 1000% a n d ll00~ on (100) orien-
2006 J. Electrochem. Sac.: S O L I D S T A T E SCIENCE D e c e m b e r 1971

I i I I I , i I I w i t h o u t affecting the other. The l a c k of a m o r e explicit

correlation b e t w e e n the two charges suggests t h a t t h e y
~ 6 V~ S{: n-tLJPe, 5J't-cm,(100~(/A m a y not have a single common origin. It is p e r h a p s
possible t h a t two or more discrete mechanisms con-
t r i b u t e to the s u r f a c e - s t a t e density, only one of which
correlates w i t h the fixed oxide charge (11).
Acknowledgments

N This w o r k was s u p p o r t e d by the Defense Research

B o a r d of Canada ( G r a n t 5566-34) and b y the N a -
tional Research Council of Canada ( G r a n t A-4408).
4-"

KiT
I I I I I I I I
-0.4 -0.2 0 + 0.2
% (volts)
Fig. 7. Effect of dry oxide growth temperature on the surface
state density (oxide thickness ~ 1GO0,~,;no anneal).
t a t e d slices. The results, shown in Fig. 7, indicate no
a p p r e c i a b l e dependence of surface states on g r o w t h
t e m p e r a t u r e . On the other hand, the fixed oxide charge,
Q~s, was observed to decrease w i t h increasing t e m p e r a -
ture of oxidation in a g r e e m e n t w i t h the results of
Deal et al. (12).
G o e t z b e r g e r et al. (19) have p o s t u l a t e d a c o m m o n
origin for the fixed oxide charge and the s u r f a c e - s t a t e
charge. Evidence in favor of this postulate include:
(a) the fact that the s u r f a c e - s t a t e density and the
surface charge have the same c r y s t a l l o g r a p h i c
d e p e n d e n c e as d e m o n s t r a t e d b y A r n o l d et al.
(11), and
(b) the results obtained in this investigation w i t h
h i g h - t e m p e r a t u r e nitrogen a n n e a l i n g which r e -
duces both Qss and Nst.
However, h y d r o g e n annealing, as shown, reduces the
s u r f a c e - s t a t e d e n s i t y w i t h o u t affecting the oxide
charge. Similarly, the oxide g r o w t h t e m p e r a t u r e a p -
p e a r s to have little affect on the surface-state d e n s i t y
while reducing the oxide charge. Hence, it is evident
t h a t some processing p a r a m e t e r s affect one charge
-
The authors wish to t h a n k Mrs. S. Trettin for assist-
ance in the s a m p l e preparation. G r a t e f u l a c k n o w l e d g -
ments are also m a d e to the National Research Council
of C a n a d a for a p o s t g r a d u a t e b u r s a r y a w a r d e d to one
of the authors (E. A. F.).
M a n u s c r i p t s u b m i t t e d Feb. 1, 1971; revised m a n u -
script received ca. May 6, 1971.
I
* 0.4 A n y discussion of this p a p e r will a p p e a r in a Dis-
cussion Section to be published in the J u n e 1972
JOURNAL.
REFERENCES
1. I~ M. Terman, Solid-State Electron., 5, 285 (1962).
2. D. M. B r o w n and P. V. Gray, This Journal, 115,
760 (1968).
3. C. N. Berglund, IEEE Trans. ED, ED-13, 701 (1966).
4. E. H. Nicollian and A. Goetzberger, Bell Syst. Tech.
J., 46, 1055 (1967).
5. R. Castagne, Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci. ( P a r / s ) , 267,
866 (1968).
6. R. Castagne, ibid., 267, 1000 (1988).
7. M. Kuhn, Solid-State Electron., 13, 873 (1970).
8. K. H. Zaininger, Semiconductor Surface Physics,
in F i e l d Effect Transistors, J. T. W a l l m a r k and
H. Johnson, Editors, P r e n t i c e Hall, Englewood
Cliffs, N. J. (1963).
9. D. R. F r a n k l , Solid-State Electron., 2, 71 (1961).
10. W. K e r n and D. Puotinen, RCA Rev., 31, 187 (1970).
11. E. A m o l d , J. Ladell, and G. Abowitz, Appl. Phys.
Letters, 13, 413 (1968).
12. B. E. Deal, M. Sklar, A. S. Grove, and E. A. Snow,
This Journal, 114, 266 (1967).
13. F. M. F o w k e s and T. E. Burgess, ibid., 116, 126C
(1969).
14. F. M. F o w k e s and T. E. Burgess, Surface Sci., 13,
184 (1969).
15. P. Balk, This Journal, 112, 69C (1965).
16. P. L. Castro and B. E. Deal, ibid., 118, 280 (1971).
17. B. E. Deal, E. L. MacKenna, and P. L. Castro, ibid.,
116, 997 (1969).
18. E. Kooi, Phillips Res. Rept., 21, 477 (1966).
19. A. Goetzberger, H. Heine, and E. H. Nicollian,
Appl. Phys. Letters, 12, 95 (1968).

Characterization of Multilevel Interconnection Defects

R. H. Cox* and H. Hentzschel *'z
Texas Instruments Incorporated, Dallas, Texas 75222

ABSTRACT
Scanning electron microscopy and m e t a l l u r g i c a l sectioning w e r e combined
to detect defects and potential r e l i a b i l i t y p r o b l e m s at crossovers and f e e d -
throughs in m u l t i l e v e l circuits. The e x t r e m e l y large d e p t h of field of the scan-
ning electron microscope p e r m i t t e d " o n - e d g e " e x a m i n a t i o n of the sample s u r -
face topography, while m e t a l l u r g i c a l cross-sectioning allowed e x a m i n a t i o n of
b u r i e d layers. This m e t h o d is a v e r y p o w e r f u l tool for characterizing m u l t i -
level i n t e g r a t e d circuits.

The a d v e n t of large scale i n t e g r a t i o n (LSI) has r e -
sulted in electronic components w h i c h have consider-
a b l y g r e a t e r functional c a p a b i l i t y t h a n the basic in-
t e g r a t e d circuit. Conventional i n t e g r a t e d circuits are
* E l e c t r o c h e m i c a l Society A c t i v e M e m b e r .
1 P r e s e n t a d d r e s s : Bosch, A.G., G e r m a n y .
K e y w o r d s : m u l t i l e v e l i n t e r c o n n e c t i o n defects, L S I (large scale
i n t e g r a t i o n ) , s c a n n i n g electron microscopy, optical microscopy, m e t -
allography.
the unit cells of an L S I array, and t h e y are i n t e r c o n -
nected utilizing a m u l t i l e v e l system formed b y i n t e r -
leaving layers of m e t a l and insulation over t h e basic
i n t e g r a t e d circuit. M e d i u m scale integration (MSI)
lies in b e t w e e n i n t e g r a t e d circuits and L S I in com-
plexity. In some cases, MSI can be achieved w i t h one
level of interconnection, b u t frequently, a t w o - l e v e l
interconnection system is employed. In o r d e r to achieve