High performance sub-0.25 μm devices using ultrathin oxide-nitride-oxide gate dielectric formed with low pressure oxidation and chemical vapor deposition

An ultra-thin, high reliability oxide-nitride-oxide (ONO) gate dielectric was formed using low pressure oxidation and chemical vapor deposition. A sub-0.25 μm device with high performance was fabricated for which the gate dielectric reliability was studied using both Fowler-Nordheim tunneling stress and hot carrier aging. The results from both techniques demonstrate that the device lifetime is longer than 100 years. Auger spectroscopy shows that there is about 9 at.% nitrogen at the SiO
₂
/Si interface. However, no transconductance degradation is observed.