Dopant Diffusion‐Induced Dielectric Breakdown: Stacked Dielectric Reliability on Heavily Doped Polysilicon
Abstract This study identifies a novel failure mode in silicon dioxide/silicon nitride (SiO₂/Si₃N₄) capacitors caused by dopant diffusion in heavily doped polysilicon substrates. Under identical thermal oxidation conditions, the interfacial oxide layer is significantly thinner on p type polysilicon...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley-VCH
2025-08-01
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| Series: | Advanced Electronic Materials |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/aelm.202500046 |
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| _version_ | 1849397297564090368 |
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| author | Shuo Wang Zebin Kong Jie Zhao Shukai Guan Ranran Zhao Anan Ju Kunshu Wang Pengfei Lian |
| author_facet | Shuo Wang Zebin Kong Jie Zhao Shukai Guan Ranran Zhao Anan Ju Kunshu Wang Pengfei Lian |
| author_sort | Shuo Wang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract This study identifies a novel failure mode in silicon dioxide/silicon nitride (SiO₂/Si₃N₄) capacitors caused by dopant diffusion in heavily doped polysilicon substrates. Under identical thermal oxidation conditions, the interfacial oxide layer is significantly thinner on p type polysilicon compared to n type polysilicon. N type capacitors exhibit superior performance, with a breakdown voltage of 88 V, whereas p type capacitors demonstrate lower breakdown voltage of 51 V. The time‐dependent dielectric breakdown (TDDB) analysis indicates that n type capacitors exhibit lifetimes exceeding 10 years under high‐voltage stress at 125 °C. In contrast, p type capacitors demonstrate rapid failure when subjected to a voltage of 30 V. Conduction analysis reveals that Poole–Frenkel conduction dominates the stacked dielectric layers, but thinning of the interfacial oxide layer significantly increases Fowler–Nordheim tunneling, ultimately driving stacked dielectric breakdown. These findings highlight the critical role of dopant diffusion in interfacial oxide reliability and provide insights for improving the performance of high‐k stacked dielectrics in heavily doped polysilicon. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e23bc4143bc646eeae4e1b1960ceb1fe |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2199-160X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-08-01 |
| publisher | Wiley-VCH |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Advanced Electronic Materials |
| spelling | doaj-art-e23bc4143bc646eeae4e1b1960ceb1fe2025-08-20T03:39:04ZengWiley-VCHAdvanced Electronic Materials2199-160X2025-08-011112n/an/a10.1002/aelm.202500046Dopant Diffusion‐Induced Dielectric Breakdown: Stacked Dielectric Reliability on Heavily Doped PolysiliconShuo Wang0Zebin Kong1Jie Zhao2Shukai Guan3Ranran Zhao4Anan Ju5Kunshu Wang6Pengfei Lian7Shanghai Aerospace Technology Fundamental Institute Shanghai 201109 ChinaShanghai Aerospace Technology Fundamental Institute Shanghai 201109 ChinaXi'an Microelectronic Technology Institute Xi'an 710065 ChinaSchool of Reliability and Systems Engineering Beihang University Beijing 100032 ChinaShanghai Aerospace Technology Fundamental Institute Shanghai 201109 ChinaShanghai Aerospace Technology Fundamental Institute Shanghai 201109 ChinaShanghai Aerospace Technology Fundamental Institute Shanghai 201109 ChinaSchool of Integrated Circuits East China Normal University Shanghai 200241 ChinaAbstract This study identifies a novel failure mode in silicon dioxide/silicon nitride (SiO₂/Si₃N₄) capacitors caused by dopant diffusion in heavily doped polysilicon substrates. Under identical thermal oxidation conditions, the interfacial oxide layer is significantly thinner on p type polysilicon compared to n type polysilicon. N type capacitors exhibit superior performance, with a breakdown voltage of 88 V, whereas p type capacitors demonstrate lower breakdown voltage of 51 V. The time‐dependent dielectric breakdown (TDDB) analysis indicates that n type capacitors exhibit lifetimes exceeding 10 years under high‐voltage stress at 125 °C. In contrast, p type capacitors demonstrate rapid failure when subjected to a voltage of 30 V. Conduction analysis reveals that Poole–Frenkel conduction dominates the stacked dielectric layers, but thinning of the interfacial oxide layer significantly increases Fowler–Nordheim tunneling, ultimately driving stacked dielectric breakdown. These findings highlight the critical role of dopant diffusion in interfacial oxide reliability and provide insights for improving the performance of high‐k stacked dielectrics in heavily doped polysilicon.https://doi.org/10.1002/aelm.202500046dopant diffusionfailure analysis (FA)heavily doped polysilicon oxidationstacked dielectricreliabilityTDDB |
| spellingShingle | Shuo Wang Zebin Kong Jie Zhao Shukai Guan Ranran Zhao Anan Ju Kunshu Wang Pengfei Lian Dopant Diffusion‐Induced Dielectric Breakdown: Stacked Dielectric Reliability on Heavily Doped Polysilicon Advanced Electronic Materials dopant diffusion failure analysis (FA) heavily doped polysilicon oxidation stacked dielectric reliability TDDB |
| title | Dopant Diffusion‐Induced Dielectric Breakdown: Stacked Dielectric Reliability on Heavily Doped Polysilicon |
| title_full | Dopant Diffusion‐Induced Dielectric Breakdown: Stacked Dielectric Reliability on Heavily Doped Polysilicon |
| title_fullStr | Dopant Diffusion‐Induced Dielectric Breakdown: Stacked Dielectric Reliability on Heavily Doped Polysilicon |
| title_full_unstemmed | Dopant Diffusion‐Induced Dielectric Breakdown: Stacked Dielectric Reliability on Heavily Doped Polysilicon |
| title_short | Dopant Diffusion‐Induced Dielectric Breakdown: Stacked Dielectric Reliability on Heavily Doped Polysilicon |
| title_sort | dopant diffusion induced dielectric breakdown stacked dielectric reliability on heavily doped polysilicon |
| topic | dopant diffusion failure analysis (FA) heavily doped polysilicon oxidation stacked dielectric reliability TDDB |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/aelm.202500046 |
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