Numerical study of one-fold coordinated oxygen atom in silicon gate oxide

Abstract

The capturing properties of nonbridging oxygen hole centers with unpaired electrons /spl equiv/SiO/spl middot/ and hydrogen defects /spl equiv/SiOH in silicon oxide have been studied using the ab initio density-functional method. It was found that the /spl equiv/SiO/spl middot/ defect is an electron trap and should be the responsible candidate for better hardness against radiation for the metal-oxide-semiconductor gate oxide produced by wet oxidation. On the other hand, the /spl equiv/SiOH defect, which was proposed to be an electron or "water trap" in the oxide (A. Hartstein and D. R. Young, Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 38, pp. 631, 1981), could not be an electron trap according to the present calculation results.