Reliability of ultrathin (<2 nm) oxides on strained SiGe heterolayers

The influence of nitrogen incorporation on the reliability of ultrathin (<2 nm) rapid thermal oxides grown on strained Si/SiGe/Si heterolayers has been investigated. It is shown that rapid thermal oxidation using N 2 O followed by N 2 -annealing results in improved electrical properties and reliability in terms of stress induced leakage current, low bulk trap density, trap generation rate and high lifetime.