An atomic model of the nitrous-oxide-nitrided SiO2/Si interface

The interfacial structure of nitrous-oxide- (NO-)nitrided SiO2/Si is determined on the basis of the configuration of the Pb centers and the results of physical analysis. We used electron spin-resonance analysis to observe a decrease in the number of Pb centers after NO annealing, which corresponds to the decrease in the density of interface traps. The nitrogen bonds at the interface were analyzed by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. An asymmetric N 1s peak at around 398 eV was detected; the peak may be decomposed into two peaks with a binding-energy difference of 0.6 eV. This core-level shift originates in the difference between the numbers of oxygen atoms that are second-nearest neighbors of the nitrogen which terminates the Pb0 and Pb1 centers.