Thin oxide degradation from HDP-CVD oxide deposition in 300mm process

Degradation of thin oxide is investigated under various HDP-CVD process conditions such as deposition time, plasma power, process temperature and electrode spacing. We observed that the oxide is vulnerable to be damaged at longer HDP-CVD process time, higher plasma power and higher process temperature using BV and Qbd measurement in whole area of 300mm wafers. It also strongly related with the equipment parameter such as electrode spacing. The oxide degradation phenomena were rather successfully explained by charging damage through photoconduction mechanism.