Effect of nitrogen and argon anneals on the leakage current of SIMOX TFSOI devices

High temperature annealing treatment is a critical step in SIMOX technology. Inert gases such as Ar or N/sub 2/ can be used during this anneal along with a small amount of oxygen. Characterization of TFSOI near-fully-depleted devices built on Ar and N/sub 2/ annealed SIMOX indicate that, in the N/sub 2/ annealed material, nitrogen atoms may become trapped at the SOI/BOX interface and cause excessive sub-threshold leakage in NMOS devices. This paper will discuss the effect of nitrogen on the device characteristics based on electrical and chemical measurements.