Improvement of low-temperature gate dielectric formed in N2O plasma by an additional CF4 pretreatment process

This study describes a novel technique to form low temperature oxide (<350/spl deg/C). Low-temperature oxides were formed by N/sub 2/O plasma in the plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) system with a CF/sub 4/ pretreatment. These oxides demonstrate excellent current-voltage (I-V) characteristics comparable to thermally grown oxides. Experimental results indicate that CF/sub 4/ plasma treatment can significantly improve the reliability of low-temperature oxides. With excellent electrical properties, the technique is highly promising for low-temperature processes.