Comparison between CVD and thermal oxide dielectric integrity

Low-pressure chemical vapor deposited (CVD) oxide and thermal oxide of identical thickness (360 A) are compared. CVD oxide exhibits much lower incidence of breakdown at the electric fields below 8 MV/cm, in agreement with the notion that the breakdown is largely due to the incorporation of impurities in the silicon substrate into the oxide during thermal oxidation. Furthermore, CVD oxide shows identical I-V characteristics as thermal oxide and significantly lower rates of electron and hole trapping. Based on these results, CVD oxide may be an intriguing candidate for thin dielectric applications.