Abstract
Hot-electron hardness in metal-oxide-silicon (MOS) devices can be improved by a gate oxide annealed in N 2 O using a rapid thermal process, which is mainly attributed to the relaxation of SiO 2 /Si interfacial strain. The mechanism for this improvement is analyzed by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) for the first time. The values of full width at half maximum (FWHM) at peak position ∼1080 cm -1 in FTIR spectra for the oxide film have a qualitative dependency on the SiO 2 /Si interfacial strain. A larger value of FWHM indicates a smaller SiO 2 /Si interfacial strain. This analytical technique using FTIR would be useful in predicting the hot-electron hardness of MOS devices. © 1997 Elsevier Science S.A.