Plasma charging damage immunities of rapid thermal nitrided oxide and decoupled plasma nitrided oxide

Plasma process induced damage on rapid thermal nitrided oxide (RTNO) and decoupled plasma nitrided oxide (DPNO) gate dielectrics are evaluated. It is found that the level of plasma induced damage on DPNO is comparable to that of RTNO. Hence, we can conclude that the decoupled plasma nitridation (DPN) process does not introduce significant damage to the silicon dioxide gate dielectric. We also discovered that RTNO fares better than DPNO in term of plasma charging damage immunity when both gate dielectrics are subjected to simulated plasma charging stresses.