Thin Solid Films, Vol.517, No.1, 207-208, 2008
Reliability degradation of thin HfO(2)/SiO(2) gate stacks by remote RF hydrogen and deuterium plasma treatment
Current-voltage measurements indicated that RF hydrogen/deuterium remote plasma treatment of thin p-Si/SiO(2)/HfO(2) structures proved to be detrimental in terms of dielectric reliability. By using capacitance-voltage measurements we demonstrate that this reported degradation was not attributed to plasma-induced defects but rather due to an enhanced liberation of hydrogen and deuterium species during the electrical stress. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.