Charging damages to gate oxides in a helicon O-2 plasma

Abstract

After the exposure of metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) capacitors with antenna structures to the helicon O-2 plasma, the leakage current. charge-to-breakdown (Q(bd)) and capacitance-voltage (C-V) curves have been characterized to realize the charging damages. The results indicate that the quasi static C-V(QSCV) distortion and Q(bd) depend on the exposure time rather than the antenna ratio. The QSCV and Q(bd) Show a two stage degradation as the exposure time increases. The leakage current increases slightly for the specimens exposed to the plasma for less than 120 s, and increases considerably for the ones with the exposure time of 300 s. Based on these results, the degradation mechanism of gate oxides under the helicon O-2 plasma is established.