Process for reducing hydrogen contamination in dielectric materials in memory devices

Claim 2

A process for removing hydrogen contamination from a semiconductor device comprising: forming at least one dielectric layer, wherein the dielectric layer comprises dielectric-hydrogen bonds; irradiating the dielectric layer with ultraviolet radiation sufficient to break at least a portion of the dielectric-hydrogen bonds; and annealing the dielectric layer in an atmosphere comprising at least one gas having at least one atom capable of forming dielectric-atom bonds, whereby at least a portion of dielectric-hydrogen bonds are replaced with dielectric-atom bonds, wherein the dielectric layer is one or more of a nitride layer, a high-K dielectric material layer and a composite dielectric material layer.

Claim 3

The process of claim 1 , wherein the dielectric-hydrogen bonds comprise one or more of silicon-hydrogen bonds, nitrogen-hydrogen bonds, oxygen-hydrogen bonds, and metal-hydrogen bonds.

Claim 4

The process of claim 1 , wherein the at least one atom is one or more of deuterium, fluorine, oxygen, silicon, and nitrogen.

Claim 5

The process of claim 1 , wherein the dielectric layer is one or more of a charge storage layer, a spacer, and an etch stop layer.

Claim 6

The process of claim 1 , wherein the dielectric layer is a nitride layer.

Claim 7

The process of claim 1 , wherein the atmosphere comprises from about 5% by volume to about 95% by volume of the at least one gas having at least one atom capable of forming dielectric-atom bonds and from about 95% by weight to about 5% by weight of the at least one inert gas.

Claim 8

The process of claim 1 , wherein the ultraviolet radiation is applied at an energy of from about 3 eV to about 8 eV.

Claim 9

The process of claim 1 , wherein the ultraviolet radiation is applied at wavelengths from about 160 nm to about 400 nm.

Claim 10

The process of claim 1 , wherein the steps of irradiating and annealing are repeated at least once.

Claim 11

The process of claim 1 , wherein the steps of irradiating and annealing are performed substantially simultaneously.

Claim 12

The process of claim 1 , wherein the dielectric layer is a charge storage layer of an ONO comprising a bottom dielectric layer, a charge storage layer, and a top dielectric layer.

Claim 13

The process of claim 11 , wherein the charge storage layer is formed over the bottom dielectric layer, the bottom dielectric layer and the charge storage layer, forming an interface comprising dielectric-hydrogen bonds.

Claim 14

The process of claim 12 , further comprising the steps of: forming a top dielectric layer over the charge storage layer, the top dielectric layer and the charge storage layer forming a top interface comprising dielectric-hydrogen bonds; irradiating the top interface with ultraviolet radiation sufficient to break at least a portion of the dielectric-hydrogen bonds; and annealing the top interface in an atmosphere comprising at least one gas having at least one atom capable of forming dielectric-atom bonds, whereby at least a portion of dielectric-hydrogen bonds are replaced with dielectric-atom bonds.

Claim 15

The process of claim 13 , wherein the interface and the top interface are irradiated in the same step, and wherein the interface and the top interface are annealed in the same step.

Claim 16

A process for fabricating a semiconductor device comprising: providing a semiconductor substrate; forming an ONO material over the semiconductor substrate; forming a gate electrode layer over the ONO material; forming a dielectric spacer adjacent to the ONO and a dielectric etch stop layer over the gate electrode layer and protective spacer such that at least one of the dielectric spacer and dielectric etch stop layer comprises dielectric-hydrogen bonds; irradiating at least one of the dielectric spacer and the dielectric etch stop layer with ultraviolet radiation sufficient to break at least a portion of the dielectric-hydrogen bonds; and annealing at least one of the spacer and the etch stop layer in an atmosphere comprising at least one gas having at least one atom capable of forming dielectric-atom bonds, whereby at least a portion of dielectric-hydrogen bonds are replaced with dielectric-atom bonds, wherein at least one of the dielectric spacer and the dielectric etch stop layer is one or more of a nitride layer, a high-K dielectric material layer and a composite dielectric material layer.

Claim 17

A process for fabricating a semiconductor device comprising: providing a semiconductor substrate; forming an ONO material over the semiconductor substrate; forming a gate electrode layer over the ONO material; forming a dielectric spacer adjacent to the ONO and a dielectric etch stop layer over the gate electrode layer and protective spacer such that at least one of the dielectric spacer and dielectric etch stop layer comprises dielectric-hydrogen bonds; irradiating at least one of the dielectric spacer and the dielectric etch stop layer with ultraviolet radiation sufficient to break at least a portion of the dielectric-hydrogen bonds; and annealing at least one of the spacer and the etch stop layer in an atmosphere comprising at least one gas having at least one atom capable of forming dielectric-atom bonds, whereby at least a portion of dielectric-hydrogen bonds are replaced with dielectric-atom bonds, wherein at least one of the dielectric spacer and the dielectric etch stop layer is one or more of a nitride layer, a high-K dielectric material layer and a composite dielectric material layer.

Claim 18

The process of claim 15 wherein the step of annealing is carried out at a temperature ranging from about 600° C. to about 900° C.

Claim 19

A process for fabricating a semiconductor device comprising: providing a semiconductor substrate; forming an oxide layer over the semiconductor substrate; forming a nitride layer over the oxide layer, the oxide layer and the nitride layer forming an interface comprising silicon-hydrogen and nitrogen-hydrogen bonds; irradiating the interface with ultraviolet radiation sufficient to break at least a portion of at least one of the silicon-hydrogen and nitrogen-hydrogen bonds; and annealing the interface in an atmosphere comprising at least one gas having at least one atom capable of forming at least one of silicon-atom bonds and nitrogen-atom bonds, whereby at least a portion of at least one of the silicon-hydrogen bonds and nitrogen-hydrogen bonds are replaced with at least one of the silicon-atom bonds and nitrogen-atom bonds.

Claim 20

A process for fabricating a semiconductor device comprising: providing a semiconductor substrate; forming an oxide layer over the semiconductor substrate; forming a nitride layer over the oxide layer, the oxide layer and the nitride layer forming an interface comprising silicon-hydrogen and nitrogen-hydrogen bonds; irradiating the interface with ultraviolet radiation sufficient to break at least a portion of at least one of the silicon-hydrogen and nitrogen-hydrogen bonds; and annealing the interface in an atmosphere comprising at least one gas having at least one atom capable of forming at least one of silicon-atom bonds and nitrogen-atom bonds, whereby at least a portion of at least one of the silicon-hydrogen bonds and nitrogen-hydrogen bonds are replaced with at least one of the silicon-atom bonds and nitrogen-atom bonds.

Claim 21

The process of claim 17 , wherein the ultraviolet radiation is applied at an energy of from about 3.9 eV to about 8.1 eV.

Claim 22

The process of claim 18 , wherein the atmosphere comprises from about 5% by volume to about 95% by volume of the at least one gas having at least one atom capable of forming dielectric-atom bonds and from about 95% by weight to about 5% by weight of the at least one inert gas, wherein the anneal conditions comprise a temperature in the range from about 300° C. to about 1200° C.

Claim 23

The process of claim 19 , wherein the steps of irradiating and annealing are performed substantially simultaneously.