On the activation and passivation of precursors for process-induced positive charges in Hf-dielectric stacks

The activation of process-induced positive charging (PIPC) precursors after device fabrication is examined and it is shown that the loss of certain species from the gate edge through lateral diffusion is responsible for it. That studies have shown that water- and chlorine-related species have played a major role, the reactivation of the passivation precursor is examined and the results have shown that it is not thermally accelerated.