Hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide (a-SiC:H) films have been deposited using magnetron sputtering technique. An integrated investigation of the effect of vacuum annealing temperature on photoluminescence properties and paramagnetic defects and its correlation with structural... (Read more)

Interface defects related to negative-bias temperature instability (NBTI) in an ultrathin plasma-nitrided SiON/ Si<100> system were characterized by using conductance–frequency measurements, electron-spin resonance measure- ments, and synchrotron radiation X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. It was confirmed that NBTI is reduced by using D₂-annealing instead of the usual H₂-annealing. Interfacial Si dangling bonds (P_b1 and P_b0 centers) were detected in a sample subjected to negative-bias temperature stress (NBTS). Although we suggest that NBTS also generates non-Pb defects, it does not seem to generate nitrogen dangling bonds. These results show that NBTI of the plasma-nitrided SiON/Si system is predominantly due to P_b depassivation. Plasma nitridation was also found to increase the P_b1/P_b0 density ratio, modify the P_b1 defect structure, and increase the latent interface trap density by generating Si suboxides at the interface. These changes are likely to be the causes of NBTI in ultrathin plasma-nitrided SiON/Si systems. (Read more)