Low-temperature growth of N-doped SiO2 layer using inductively-coupled plasma oxidation and its effect on the characteristics of thin film transistors

Abstract

Silicon dioxide as gate dielectrics was grown at 400 °C on a polycrystalline Si substrate by inductively coupled plasma oxidation using a mixture of O2 and N2O to improve the performance of polycrystalline Si thin film transistors. In conventional high-temperature N2O annealing, nitrogen can be supplied to the Si/SiO2 interface because a NO molecule can diffuse through the oxide. However, it was found that nitrogen cannot be supplied to the Si/SiO2 interface by plasma oxidation as the N2O molecule is broken in the plasma and because a dense Si-N bond is formed at the SiO2 surface, preventing further diffusion of nitrogen into the oxide. Nitrogen was added to the Si/SiO2 interface by the plasma oxidation of mixtures of O2/N2O gas, leading to an enhancement of the field effect mobility of polycrystalline Si TFTs due to the reduction in the number of trap densities at the interface and at the Si grain boundaries due to nitrogen passivation.