Growth and characterization of ultrathin nitrided silicon oxide films

• DOI: 10.1147/rd.433.0265
• Publication Date: 2010-04-05T14:34:14Z
• Authors: E. P. Gusev; H.-C. Lu; E. L. Garfunkel; T. Gustafsson; M. L. Green
• Keywords: 0103 physical sciences; 01 natural sciences

This paper reviews recent progress in understanding microstructural and growth-mechanistic aspects of ultrathin (<4 nm) oxynitride films for gate dielectric applications. Different techniques for characterizing these films are summarized. We discuss several nitridation methods, including thermal (oxy)nitridation in NO, N2O, and N2 as well as a variety of deposition methods. We show that a basic understanding of the gas-phase and thin-film oxygen and nitrogen incorporation chemistries facilitates the processing of layered oxynitride nanostructures with desirable electrical properties.