Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 February 2011
We incorporated significant density of nitrogen only near the top surfaces of the thermally grown oxides by the fluorination at room temperature followed by atomic nitrogen treatment around 550°C. Average nitrogen concentration of more than 6 percent was obtained in the nitrided layer with thickness below 1 nm. We fabricated MOS devices using the nitrided oxide films without hydrogenation, and measured capacitance-voltage characteristics. The density of nitridation-induced interface defects in the MOS device was estimated to be below 2×1010 cm−2. The proposed technique identifies a unique process for obtaining high quality ultrathin dielectrics.