Improvement in radiation hardness of reoxidized nitrided oxide (RNO) in the absence of post-oxidation anneal

A simple radiation-hard process for rapid thermal reoxidized nitrided oxide (RNO) structures is proposed. This process involves fast pulling (FP) of samples out of the furnace in a mixture of oxygen and nitrogen immediately after the oxidation has been completed. Samples with starting oxides prepared by conventional postoxidation annealing (POA) are also compared. It is found from CV curves that the initial interface property of an RNO structure with a fast pulled starting oxide (RNO/sub FP/) is almost the same as that with a postoxidation annealed starting oxide (RNO/sub POA/); however, after being exposed to Co-60 irradiation, the former becomes superior to the latter. Excess oxygen left at interface in the starting oxide during the fast pulling procedure might be the origin of the radiation-hard property for RNO/sub FP/ structures.>