Improved reliability characteristics of submicrometer nMOSFETs with oxynitride gate dielectric prepared by rapid thermal oxidation in N/sub 2/O

Submicrometer MOSFETs with ultrathin oxynitride gate dielectric grown in pure N/sub 2/O ambient were studied. The peak mobility of oxynitride is 5% lower than that of control oxide. However, the oxynitride shows 10% less mobility degradation under high normal field. Compared with the control oxide device, the oxynitride device shows significantly less degradation under channel hot-electron stress. The lifetime of the oxynitride device is approximately one order of magnitude longer than that of the control oxide sample. Significant improvement of device reliability is due to the nitrogen incorporation during the oxidation process. >