The electromigration performance of samples fabricated with new Al via-filling techniques are studied and compared. The new techniques are (1) Hot Al mono-chamber and (2) CVD/PVD Al. Their electromigration performances are assessed over a range of stress conditions and compared with that of a standard W- etchback technique.

Thin gate oxides of 30 to 150 Å have been grown in a rapid thermal annealing machine. Experiments were performed in the temperature range of 1000 to 1250°C for an oxidation time of 5 to 60 s. The fairly extensive kinetics data show that linear growth occurs with an activation energy Ea of 1.4 eV for the 5-60 s period. The oxide homogeneity was evaluated and gave a value of 1.9 A for a mean oxide thickness of 102 A. The electrical characteristics of Al-gate capacitors were assessed by C-V and I-V measurements. Rapid thermal nitridation of a 96 A SiO2 has been performed at a temperature of 1150°C for a nitridaticn time up to 150 s. An average breakdown field of 14.6 MV/cm has been obtained for MIS capacitors. High resolution TEM show a good interface SioXNY-Si.

The irreversible thermal annealing behaviour of paramagnetic oxygen vacancy defects (E' centers) induced by 40 keV Ne+ and 140 keV Kr+ ion implantation in amorphous SiO2 has been studied by means of electron paramagnetic resonance. The reversible E'l⇆ B2 defect transformation occurring via a hole injection/trapping process under ionising radiation (190 keV H+) is used as a means of distinguishing a reversible modification of the defect charge state from irreversible annealing of oxygen vacancies. Irreversible thermal recovery is shown to occur between 500 and 900°C. Both conventional and tungsten lamp heater annealing results are compared to predictions based on Simpson and Sosin's model for diffusional recombination of spatially correlated Frenkel pairs and to a simple model for unimolecular recombination. The annealing behaviour observed is accounted for assuming a gaussian distribution in activation energy for diffusion.