Effect of H sub(2) content on reliability of ultrathin in-situ steam generated (ISSG) SiO sub(2)

This letter demonstrates the effect of H sub(2) percentage during oxidation on the quality of the in-situ steam generated (ISSG) oxide. Our results indicate the reliability of ISSG oxide is considerably improved as the H sub(2) percentage increases, from the viewpoint of stress-induced leakage current (SILC) and charge-to-breakdown (Q sub(BD)). Such enhanced reliability of the ISSG oxide may be explained by the reduction of defects in the SiO sub(2 ) network within the structural transition layer, such as Si dangling bonds, weak Si-Si and strained Si-O bonds, by highly reactive oxygen atoms which are hypothesized to be dissociated from the molecular oxygen due to the presence of hydrogen