Plasma Charging Damage

This tutorial will cover the basic physical mechanism of plasma charging damage. It will then discuss how charging damage manifest itself in various technology generations and how the measurement methods must change accordingly. Much of the change is associated with gate oxide thickness change and its degradation mode change. Finally, the era of ultra thin gate oxide and why damage seems to go away will be addressed.

K. P. Cheung

Dr. Cheung obtained his Ph.D. degree in Chemical Physics from New York University in 1983. From 1983 to 1985 he was a postdoctoral fellow in AT&T Bell Laboratory working on femtosecond optoelectronics. During that period, He and coworkers pioneered the field of coherent far-infrared spectroscopy (currently referred to as THz spectroscopy), reported the first electro-optic Cherenkov radiation and the first impulse excitation of phonon-polaritons. From 1985 to 2001, he was a member of the technical staff of Bell Laboratories. During this period, he has conducted research in silicon integrated circuit technology. His work encompasses chemical vapor deposition of metal films, laser reflow of metal to fill submicron windows, plasma etching of thin films, shallow junction formation, isolation, technology integration, gate oxide reliability and device reliability. His recent work concentrated on plasma damage and thin gate-oxide reliability. He initiated and organized the International Symposium on Plasma Process Induced Damage, and has served as chair for 1996 and 1997. He has also served as committee member in IEDM, IRPS and VLSIT. He taught short courses on plasma-charging damage in the 1996 Symposium on VLSI Technology, the 1997 IEEE International Reliability Physics Symposium, the 1998 International Electron Devices Meeting and the 1999 International Symposium on Plasma Process Induced Damage. In addition to many conference and journal papers, he also published a monograph on plasma charging damage. Dr. Cheung is currently an associate professor in Rutgers University.