Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 February 2011
This paper addresses two aspects of the chemical bonding arrangements at Si-SiO2 interfaces that impact significantly on electrical performance and reliability of devices with ultrathin gate dielectrics with oxide equivalent thicknesses, toxeq, in the regime of direct tunneling; i.e., toxeq < 3 nm. These are i) minimization of suboxide bonding arrangements that contribute to roughness in an interfacial transition region, and ii) monolayer nitrogen atom incorporation.