A new and accurate approach to charge-pumping measurements for the determination of the Si-SiO 2 interface state density directly on MOS transistors is presented. By a careful analysis of the different processes of emission of electrons towards the conduction band and of holes towards the valence band, depending on the charge state of the interface, all the previously ill-understood phenomena can be explained and the deviations from the simple charge-pumping theory can be accounted for. The presence of a geometric component in some transistor configurations is illustrated and the influence of trapping time constants is discussed. Furthermore, based on this insight, a new technique is developed for the determination of the energy distribution of interface states in small-area transistors, without requiring the knowledge of the surface potential dependence on gate voltage.

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A reliable approach to charge-pumping measurements in MOS transistors

One of the most important degradation effects observed in MNOS memory transistors is a negative shift of the threshold window. This negative shift is caused by a strong increase of the density of Si‐SiO2 surface traps. This effect has been proposed to be caused by the same effect that is observed in MOS devices subjected to negative‐bias stress (NBS). In this paper, a detailed study of the increase of the number of surface traps in MOS structures after NBS at temperatures (25–125 °C) and fields (400–700 MV/m) comparable to those used in MNOS devices is presented. Two different behaviors are observed. At low fields the surface‐trap density increases as t1/4 and at high fields it increases linearly with the stress time t. The low‐field behavior is temperature and field dependent and the zero‐field activation energy is determined to be 0.3 eV. The high‐field behavior is strongly field dependent but independent of temperature. A physical model is proposed to explain the surface‐trap growth as being diffusion ...

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Negative bias stress of MOS devices at high electric fields and degradation of MNOS devices

All chemical sensors based upon the field-effect principle share a common quality. Their measurable properties can be described in terms of a flat-band voltage. The various terms in the expression of the flat-band voltage are described and discussed, and in particular the voltage drop at the insulator-electrolyte interface. It is shown that this voltage drop depends on the pH of the electrolyte and is determined by two parameters, the pH at the point of zero charge, and a sensitivity parameter which is introduced in this paper. These parameters are obtained from the site-dissociation model of the insulator-electrolyte interface, combined with the Gouy-Chapmann-Stern theory of the electrical double layer at this interface. The theoretical description is used to interpret experimental results obtained from insulators with widely different properties, namely SiO 2 and Al 2 O 3 .

Operation of chemically sensitive field-effect sensors as a function of the insulator-electrolyte interface

Description of the SiO2Si interface properties by means of very low frequency MOS capacitance measurements

The ESR Pb center has been observed in thermally oxidized single‐crystal silicon wafers, and compared with oxide fixed charge Qss and oxidation‐induced interface states Nst. The Pb center is found to be located near the interface on (111) wafers. Its g anisotropy is very similar to that of known bulk silicon defects having SiIII bonded to three other Si atoms; the Pb unpaired electron orbital, however, is exclusively oriented normal to the (111) surface. The Pb center cannot be identified with any other known defect in Si or SiO2; in particular, it is totally unlike the common E′ center of SiO2. In contrast to Qss, both Pb and Nst were found to be greatly reduced by steam oxidation and hydrogen annealing. Both Pb and Nst may be regenerated by subsequent N2 anneals at 500 °C. In a graded series of samples, Pb and Nst are found to be proportional and nearly equal in concentration. This possible confirmation of SiIII at the interface, and correlation with Nst, support the theoretical indication of an SiIII b...

ESR centers, interface states, and oxide fixed charge in thermally oxidized silicon wafers

A quasi-static technique is discussed for obtaining the ‘low frequency’ thermal equilibrium MOS capacitance-voltage characteristics The method is based on a measurement of the MOS charging current in response to a linear voltage ramp, so that the charging current is directly proportional to the incremental MOS capacitance With this technique, surface potential and the surface state density can be obtained relatively simply and over a large part of the energy gap on a single sample, while also providing a direct test for the presence of gross nonuniformities in MOS structures This method has been used to determine the surface state distribution at the interface of a bias grown steam oxide and 10 ω-cm n -type silicon, and the results are compared with composite measurements using the conductance technique for a similar interface The sensitivity for surface state density measurements is estimated to be of the order of 10 10 states per cm 2 eV near mid-gap for 10 ω-cm silicon and improves with decreasing doping density Some applications and limitations are also briefly discussed

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M. Kuhn

Papers

A quasi-static technique for MOS C-V and surface state measurements