Abstract
This article reports on the effects of surface charge on bare wafers and p-channel MOSFETs by a positive ion beam accompanied by an electron beam current for surface charge neutralization. Without the negative electron beam the films show a higher sheet resistance and the pMOSFETs exhibit a lower threshold voltage, a lower breakdown voltage and a lower gain factor. If the electron beam current is equal to or higher than the ion beam current of 6 mA, the uniformity of sheet resistance, fluctuations of breakdown voltage and gain factor are significantly improved by controlling the charge neutralization in this experiment. It prevents the positive charges from penetrating the poly-gate and causing catastrophic damage in the gate oxide layer. The sheet resistance deviation for the samples with a capped photoresist is higher than that for the bare wafer because the insulating property of the photoresist enhances the wafer surface charge accumulation and thus repels the subsequently implanted ions. The thinner gate oxide layer leads to larger deviations of threshold voltage, breakdown voltage and gain factor due to the imbalance of surface charge. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.