Improvement of Device Reliability and Variability Using High Pressure Deuterium Annealing

Higher device reliability and lower device-to-device variability are needed to improve the density and yield of integrated circuits. A high pressure deuterium annealing (HPDA) process is proposed for this purpose. Gate-enclosed n-MOSFETs were fabricated on silicon substrate as test vehicles. Then, secondary ion mass spectrometry was performed to verify deuterium absorption. After that, device parameters such as gate leakage, threshold voltage, and subthreshold swing were measured, and the values before and after the HPDA process were compared. The results confirmed device reliability as well as device-to-device variability were improved by the proposed HPDA process.