Reoxidized nitric oxide (ReoxNO) process and its effect on the dielectric reliability of the LOCOS edge

Reoxidation of an oxynitride gate dielectric grown by NO anneal of thermal oxide has been studied for the first time. This process results in a striking enhancement of both gate and substrate injection Q/sub BD/ by /spl sim/3-5X for active edge intensive capacitors in comparison to thermal oxide, N/sub 2/O and NO oxynitride. This improvement is attributed to reduction of mechanical stress at the active edge which leads to less local thinning of gate oxide at the field oxide edge and reduction of the local build-up of positive charge near the gate electrode at the isolation edges. Drive current of n- and p-MOSFETs with ReoxNO oxynitride is also compared to other dielectrics.