A novel technique of N/sub 2/O-treatment on NH/sub 3/-nitrided oxide as gate dielectric for nMOS transistors

A novel technique of N/sub 2/O treatment on NH/sub 3/-nitrided oxide is used to prepare thin gate oxide. Experiments on MOS capacitors and nMOSFET's with this kind of gate dielectric show that N/sub 2/O treatment is superior to conventional reoxidation step in suppressing both electron and hole trappings and interface trap creation under high-field stress. Interface hardness against hot-carrier bombardment and neutral electron trap generation are also improved. Thus, N/sub 2/O treatment on NH/sub 3/-nitrided oxide shows excellent electrical and reliability properties, while maintaining sufficiently high nitrogen concentration in gate oxide which offers good resistance to dopant penetration.