Secondary ion mass spectroscopy characterization of the deuterium sintering process for enhanced-lifetime complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor transistors

We have investigated the lifetime improvements in complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor transistors with nitride sidewalls by the deuterium sintering process. We report the incorporation of deuterium (D) at the gate SiO₂/Si interface (overcoming the diffusion barrier of nitride sidewalls) and mean lifetime improvements by a factor of 15. Sintering temperatures ranged from 400 to 480 °C, and the D concentration inside the furnace varied from 10% (in ultra-high purity nitrogen) to 100% with sintering times between 30 and 150 min. We performed secondary ion mass spectrometry to obtain the depth profiles of hydrogen (H) and D in the sintered transistors. The measured D/H concentration ratio at the SiO₂/Si interface correlates directly with the sintering parameters and the measured transistor lifetime improvements.