Improvement of silicon dioxide integrity against hole-related breakdown with the incorporation of foreign atoms: molecular orbital examination

The mechanism for the improvement of gate oxide integrity through the incorporation of nitrogen atoms was examined in terms of molecular orbital theory by considering the chemical bond changes that accompany hole trapping and which cause degradation of the oxide. We found that the robustness against hot-hole injection was significantly improved by the formation of the N/spl equiv/Si/sub 3/ structure in the oxide.