Links between oxide, interface, and border traps in high-temperature annealed Si/SiO2 systems

Evidence is provided to show that enhanced hole-, interface-, and border-trap generation in irradiated high-temperature annealed Si/SiO2/Si systems are all related either directly, or indirectly, to the presence of oxygen vacancies. We find that the calculated oxygen vacancy due to high-temperature anneals from 800 to 950 °C in metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitors closely matches the radiation-induced oxide-trapped charge. This strongly suggests that oxygen vacancies (or vacancy-related complexes) are the dominant hole trapping sites in this particular case. Along with the increase in radiation-induced oxide-trap charge, we observe a concomitant increase in the interface- and border-trap densities. This suggests that in devices that receive high-temperature anneals, all these phenomena are linked to the existence of oxygen vacancies either directly, or indirectly, perhaps via hole trapping at these vacancies.