Observation of nitrogen-enhanced doping deactivation at the polysilicon-oxynitride interface of pMOSFETs with 12-/spl Aring/ gate dielectrics

This letter reports the observation of a process integration issue that arises when large doses of nitrogen (>1/spl times/10/sup 15/ cm/sup -2/) are incorporated in oxynitride gate dielectric films targeting equivalent oxide thickness of 11-13 /spl Aring/. It is shown that capacitance-extracted active doping density at the polysilicon/oxynitride (poly/SiON) interface of boron-doped p/sup +/-polysilicon gated pMOSFETs decreases with increasing nitrogen dose of the oxynitride film as measured by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. A physical mechanism is proposed to explain experimental observations.