PE-CVD Induced Damage on Ultra Thin SiO2 layers

Introduction Plasma Process Induced Damage (P2ID) has been widely investigated in last years [1]. Charging of conductive or dielectric surfaces due to P2ID can result in a gate current stressing the gate oxides. Charging damage is known to be effective during almost every processing step involving the use of a plasma [2-5]. In particular, in last years the damage due to the Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PE-CVD) Inter Metal Dielectric (IMD) deposition has been of particular concern [4-6].