Abstract
The electrical property of gate oxynitride in metal-oxide-Si capacitor is improved by a neutron-intrinsic-gettering (NIG) treatment. This improvement can be attributed to the reduction of nitrogen concentration in the oxynitride bulk and the decrease of interstitial oxygen defect in the silicon. For the oxynitride formed using NIG-treated Si substrate, the breakdown electric field is increased and the reliability is improved. A significant improvement of electrical property in gate oxynitride is observed by a NIG treatment including a fast neutron dose of 7.2×10 16 cm -2 and an anneal at 1100°C for 6 h. This NIG treatment would be promising for the improvement of electrical properties in gate oxynitrides. © 2000 American Institute of Physics.