A novel low-temperature gate oxynitride for CMOS technologies

A new-low temperature gate oxynitride has been developed for sub-0.25 mu m CMOS technologies. In this process, nitrous oxide is cracked in a pre-furnace at high temperature to generate nitric oxide that flows into the main furnace where the gate oxidation is carried out at low temperature. Physical analysis and gate oxide integrity data are used to demonstrate effective nitridation of the gate oxides grown in this fashion. The process was successfully integrated into a 0.15 mu m: 1.5 V CMOS technology with 25 Angstrom physical gate oxide to minimize short channel effects and improve device performance and hot carrier reliability.