Effect of Starting Oxide on Electrical Characteristics of Metal-Reoxidized Nitrided Oxide-Semiconductor Devices Prepared by Rapid Thermal Processes

The electrical characteristics of metal-reoxidized nitrided oxide (RNO)-semiconductor devices which employ furnace oxide (O F ) and rapid thermal oxide (O R ) as starting oxides are investigated. It is found that the RNO structure which uses O F as a starting oxide and with nitridation carried out at a sufficiently high temperature, exhibits the lowest initial interface traps in comparison with other RNO structures. Metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) devices which use pure O R as a gate oxide are worthy of note due to their good hot-electron and radiation hardnesses. The gate-area dependence of radiation hardness for various structures is also discussed.