Relationship between growth conditions, nitrogen profile, and charge to breakdown of gate oxynitrides grown from pure N2O

We studied the relationship between the growth conditions, the nitrogen profile, and the charge to breakdown of N2O oxynitrides grown in a RTP and in a conventional furnace. RTP oxynitride shows nitrogen accumulation at the Si/SiO2 interface. On the other hand, furnace oxynitride shows almost uniform nitrogen distribution in the bulk, resulting in poor charge to breakdown characteristics. We find that two-step oxynitridation processes provide nitrogen accumulation at the Si/SiO2 interface and result in better electrical properties than those of one-step oxynitrides.