Links between oxide, interface, and border traps in high‐temperature annealed Si/SiO2systems

Evidence is provided to show that enhanced hole‐, interface‐, and border‐trap generation in irradiated high‐temperature annealed Si/SiO2/Si systems are all related either directly, or indirectly, to the presence of oxygen vacancies. We find that the calculated oxygen vacancy due to high‐temperature anneals from 800 to 950 °C in metal‐oxide‐semiconductor capacitors closely matches the radiation‐induced oxide‐trapped charge. This strongly suggests that oxygen vacancies (or vacancy‐related complexes) are the dominant hole trapping sites in this particular case. Along with the increase in radiation‐induced oxide‐trap charge, we observe a concomitant increase in the interface‐ and border‐trap densities. This suggests that in devices that receive high‐temperature anneals, all these phenomena are linked to the existence of oxygen vacancies either directly, or indirectly, perhaps via hole trapping at these vacancies.