Electron induced depassivation of H and D terminated Si/SiO{sub 2} interfaces

The authors have performed electron spin resonance and electrical measurements on SiO{sub 2}/Si structures subjected to anneals in 5% H{sub 2}/N{sub 2} or 5% D{sub 2}/N{sub 2} gases and subsequently injected with electrons using corona ions and ultra-violet radiation. Threshold voltage and transconductance measurements have also been made on 0.25 {micro}m metal-oxide-semiconductor transistors subjected to 400 C anneals in the same gases and subsequently aged by hot electron injection. The electrical data on SiO{sub 2}/Si structures indicates that the density of interface states increases as a result of electron injection but that there are only minor differences between H and D passivated interfaces. The data on P{sub b}, trivalent Si dangling bond, centers at the same interfaces observed by electron spin resonance is insufficiently accurate to enable them to observe any significant differences. The hot electron injection experiments on transistors, consistent with other authors, indicate that, for the limited number of measurements they have made, the transistor aging resulting from the generation of interface states is significantly reduced for devices annealed in the D containing gas as compared to those annealed in the H containing gas. The origins of some potential differences in annealing behavior between the SiO{sub 2}/Si structures and the 0.25 {micro}m transistors are suggested