Gamma Radiation induced changes in the

MOS Structure Aℓ/TeO2/n-Si

Under the Supervision of

Prof. S. L. Sharma

Venkateswarlu Somepalli
(09PH6004)
 Contents

 Introduction

 Aim of the work

 Experimental procedure

 Result and discussion

 Plots

 Future work

 References
 Introduction
 Gamma ray is a packet (or photon) of electromagnetic radiation emitted from the
nucleus during radioactive decay which is form the most important primary cause of
the ionizing radiation hazard to the general population during most radiological
emergencies. One cannot see or feel any gamma radiation hitting one’s body.
Naturally, therefore, one needs quite specialized equipment for the detection of
gamma radiation .

There are three important mechanisms of interaction by which gamma radiation

interact with the matter leading to the attenuation of gamma radiation which is most
important to understand the working of different gamma radiation detection
systems and for the realistic estimation of the level of radiation hazard. These
interaction mechanisms are photoelectric interaction, Compton interaction and the
interaction leading to pair production.

whenever a gamma ray photon interacts with the matter it generate a variety of
defects in the solid materials of all kinds and induces changes in the structural,
optical, electrical and other physical properties of the thin solid films.
The understanding of the changes in different physical properties of the thin solid
films due to the gamma radiation exposure is vital from the viewpoint of the
physics the materials as well as from the viewpoint of the design and development
of gamma radiation dosimeters and sensors.

A large number of efforts have been devoted in the recent past to investigate the
influence of gamma irradiation on the properties of the thin films of metal oxides
such as SnO2, In2O3, CeO2, NiO, TeO2, SiO, etc.

The study of the effects of ionizing radiation on the MOS devices (such as MOS
capacitors, MOSFETs, integrated circuits, etc.) has been an interesting area of
research due to their widespread applications in the field of radiation dosimetry
over the past several decades.
 Aim of this work

 To study the effect of gamma irradiation on the dielectric properties of thin TeO 2

layers. In the present work, for the first time, a study has been carried out to
understand the nature and working of the MOS structure with an oxide layer of
tellurium dioxide (TeO2) and the effects of different levels of gamma radiation dose
on the working of this structure.

The study includes measurements on the capacitance-voltage (C-V) and

conductance-voltage (C-V) characteristics at a high frequency of 1 MHz using a HP
4192A LF impedance analyzer. From these measurements,
 
the voltage and radiation
 
 
dose dependences of the real dielectric constant   ,imaginary dielectric constant  
,series resistance (Rs) and density of interface states (Dit) have been obtained for the
MOS structure, Aℓ/TeO2/n-Si for three thicknesses (namely, (100, 150 and 200 nm)
of the TeO2 layer.
 Experimental Procedure
 Several samples of the MOS structure (Aℓ/TeO2/n-Si), for each of the three
thicknesses (100, 150 and 200 nm) of the TeO2 layer, were fabricated using n-type
(phosphorous doped) single crystal of silicon wafer of thickness 300 m and the wafer
was chemically cleaned using the RCA cleaning procedure.

 After cleaning of the surface, ohmic contact was made with aluminum on one side of
the wafer. Thickness of the ohmic contact was about 300 nm. On the backside of the
wafer, a thin layer of TeO2 was grown by thermal evaporation. On the top of the TeO 2
layer, another aluminum ohmic contact was made. All the aluminum ohmic contacts
were prepared by thermal evaporation in a vacuum.

 The capacitance-voltage (C-V) and conductance-voltage (G-V) measurements were

performed at high frequency of 1 MHz using a high precision (4192A LF) impedance
analyzer for the MOS structure before and after the gamma irradiation at different
levels of radiation dose. The gamma irradiation of the MOS structure was carried out
by source at room temperature. During this measurements, a test signal of an
amplitude of Vrms = 500 mV was used.
 Result and Discussion

Measured capacitance and measured conductance plots, as a function of gate

voltage before and after gamma irradiation at different dose levels for Al/TeO2/n-Si
MOS structures having three thickness of 100, 150 and 200 nm shows irradiation
dispersion in accumulation region which is shown in fig 1(a,b), 2(a,b) and 3(a,b)
respectively. In all cases it has been observed that the capacitance increases with
increase in irradiation dose and such behavior of this capacitance values are
attributed to particular distribution of surface states between TeO 2/Si interfaces.

when gamma interact with metal oxide it produces the electron hole pair and
electron gets quickly disappears with metallic contact due to their high drift velocity
and leavings behinds the holes through out the metal oxide and interfacing region.
These holes increases the existing field in the interfacing region and results to increase
the capacitance and conductance value in the accumulation region.
At the higher gamma doses the value of capacitance and conductance of the Al/
TeO2/n-Si (MOS) structures are decreases due to radiation induced damage in the
oxide. At higher doses the cluster formation is occurred inside the TeO2 film and
produced easy conduction path to transport the current

It has been observed that for Al/TeO /n-Si (MOS) structures having thickness 200
2
nm the catastrophic breakdown voltage to the measured capacitance and measured
conductance plots as a function of gate voltage. It has also observed that the
catastrophic breakdown voltage reduced irradiate MOS structure

Generally, TeO2 is polarized material at certain voltage polarization takes

maximum value that is very much depends on thickness of thin films of TeO 2. In
the C-V and G-V plot of Al/TeO2/n-Si (MOS) structures having thickness of
tellurium dioxide (TeO2) layer 200 nm which is comparable thicker it has been
observed the shooting point at certain voltage at which polarization takes maximum
value.

 When radiation exposed to the films this catastrophic breakdown voltage reduced
due to radiation-induced decease of εr
From the measured Cm-V and Gm-V plots for Al/ TeO2/n-Si MOS structures
having 100, 150 and 200 nm the series resistances were calculated before and after
gamma irradiation by the using equation which is shown in figure 1(c) , 2(c) and 3(c)
respectively.

Gm,acc
Rs 
G 2m,acc  (Cm,acc ) 2
 During the process of film deposition, some intrinsic defects are always
formed. The interaction of gamma radiation induces defects during its
passage through the thin film resulting into disorder in the microstructure of
the film. At small doses, these thin films have fine homogeneous grain
structure without any big pores and the number of defects (induced plus
residual intrinsic) is smaller than the number of intrinsic defects due to the
recombination of defects. The recombination of defects reduces the
resistivity of the thin film, giving rise to decrease the series resistance.
 plots

0.35 Thickness = 100 nm

M easured C apacitance (nF) As-deposited

0.30 30 Gy
35 Gy
50 Gy
0.25 70 Gy
100 Gy

0.20

0.15

0.10
-6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6
Bias Voltage(V)

Figure (1a) The measured capacitance (Cm) as a function of the Bias voltage before
and after gamma irradiation at different dose levels for Al/TeO 2/n-Si
MOS structure having thickness of TeO2 layer 100 nm
 0.35
Thickness = 150 nm

Measured Capacitance (nF) As-deposited

0.30
35 Gy
70 Gy
120 Gy
0.25 150 Gy

0.20

0.15

0.10
-8 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 8
Bias voltage(V)

Figure (2a) The measured capacitance (Cm) as a function of the Bias voltage before
and after gamma irradiation at different dose levels for Al/TeO 2/n-Si
MOS structure having thickness of TeO2 layer 150 nm
 0.36
Thickness=200 nm

As-deposited
Measuredcapacitance (nF) 0.30 20 Gy
45 Gy
85 Gy
150 Gy
0.24 200 Gy

0.18

0.12

-6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6
Bias Voltage(v)

Figure (3a) The measured capacitance (Cm) as a function of the Bias voltage before and
after gamma irradiation at different dose levels for Al/TeO 2/n-Si MOS
structure having thickness of TeO2 layer 200 nm
 0.32

M easured C o n d u ctan ce (n F )
Thickness 100 nm

As-deposited
0.24 30 Gy
35 Gy
50 Gy
70 Gy
0.16 100 Gy

0.08

0.00
-8 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 8
Bias Voltage(V)

Figure (1b) The measured conductance (Gm/ω) as a function of the Bias voltage
before and after gamma irradiation at different dose levels for Al/TeO 2/n-
Si MOS structure having thickness of TeO2 layer 100 nm
 0.40
Thickness 150 nm

M easu red C on d u ctan ce (n F)

As-deposited
0.32
35 Gy
70 Gy
120 Gy
0.24 150 Gy

0.16

0.08

0.00
-8 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 8
Bias Voltage (V)

Figure (2b) The measured conductance (Gm/ω) as a function of the Bias voltage
before and after gamma irradiation at different dose levels for
Al/TeO2/n-Si MOS structure having thickness of TeO2 layer 150 nm
 0.055
Thickness 200 nm

Measured Conductance (nF)

As-deposited
0.044 20 Gy
45 Gy
85 Gy
150 Gy
0.033 200 Gy

0.022

0.011

-6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6
Bias Voltage (V)

Figure (3b) The measured conductance (Gm/ω) as a function of the Bias voltage before
and after gamma irradiation at different dose levels for Al/TeO 2/n-Si MOS
structure having thickness of TeO2 layer 200 nm
 600
Thickness = 100 nm
As-deposited
30 Gy
500 35 Gy
50 Gy
70 Gy
100 Gy

400
RS

300

200
-6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6
Bias Voltage (V)

Figure (1c) The Bias voltage dependence of the series resistance (R s) at 1MHz at
room temperature before and after gamma irradiation at different
dose levels for Al/TeO2/n-Si MOS structure having thickness of TeO2
layer 100 nm
 500
Thickness = 150 nm

450 As-deposited
35 Gy
70 Gy
120 Gy
400
150 Gy
Rs
350

300

250
-8 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 8
Bias Voltage(V)

Figure (2c) The Bias voltage dependence of the series resistance (R s) at 1MHz at
room temperature before and after gamma irradiation at different dose
levels for Al/TeO2/n-Si MOS structure having thickness of TeO 2 layer
150 nm
 90

Thickness = 200 nm

75

Rs

60 As-deposited
20 Gy
45 Gy
85 Gy
150 Gy
200 Gy
45
-6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6
Bias Voltage(V)

Figure (3c) The Bias voltage dependence of the series resistance (R s) at 1MHz at
room temperature before and after gamma irradiation at different
dose levels for Al/TeO2/n-Si MOS structure having thickness of TeO2
layer 200 nm
 Future work

Future works is to be done the radiation induced change the real permitivity,
imaginary permitivity and density of interface state (Dit) form corrected

capacitance and conductance plot of Al/TeO2/n-Si MOS structure of several

thickness.
 References
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E. H. Nicollian and J. R. Brews, 1. MOS Physics and Technology (New York:
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Thank you