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Radiation-Induced Nitrogen Segregation During Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy of Silicon Oxide-Nitride-Oxide Stacks

Published

Author(s)

Igor Levin, Richard D. Leapman, M Kovler, Y Roizin

Abstract

Electron energy loss spectroscopy in a transmission electron microscope (TEM) was used to measure elemental profiles of Si, 0 and N in the SiOx/SixNy/SiOx/poly-Si stacks deposited on silicon. The measurements were made using (i) energy-filtered TEM and EELS spectrum-line acquisition in a fixed-beam high-resolution TEM equipped with a thermionic electron source, and a post-column energy filter, and (ii) EELS spectrum-imaging in a dedicated scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) equipped with a cold field-emission source and an EELS spectrometer. The results revealed radiation-induced nitrogen segregation to both the Si/SiOx and SiOx/poly-Si interfaces; the extent of nitrogen segregation increased visibly with increasing the radiation dose. The nitrogen diffusion through the oxide layers apparently was accompanied by the diffusion of oxygen into the nitride. Under the high radiation doses, the nitride layer was transformed into an oxynitride layer, containing a substantial amount of oxygen. Artifact-free nitrogen profiles across the Si/SiOx interfaces were obtained in STEM by scanning the beam parallel to the layers.
Citation
Applied Physics Letters
Volume
83
Issue
No. 8

Keywords

artifact, charge-storage, EELS, ONO, silicon nitride, silicon oxide, STEM TEM

Citation

Levin, I. , Leapman, R. , Kovler, M. and Roizin, Y. (2003), Radiation-Induced Nitrogen Segregation During Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy of Silicon Oxide-Nitride-Oxide Stacks, Applied Physics Letters (Accessed March 28, 2024)
Created August 1, 2003, Updated February 19, 2017