Scanning internal photoemission studies of sodium-contaminated metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitors

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Abstract
Following DiStefano and also Williams and Woods we have used scanning internal photoemission to map barrier inhomogeneities in sodium‐contaminated Al/SiO2/Si Metal‐Oxide‐Semiconductor capacitors. A computer controlled system was used with a He/Cd laser. A well‐known and striking result of the previous work is that peaks tend to be found in the internal photoemission. In some cases these peaks have been attributed to the segregation of an initially uniform sodium ion distribution into clusters of a few μm diameter. This clustering occurred during a low temperature anneal under positive gate bias. The mechanism for the supposed segregation is of considerable interest. One possibility is that the segregation maps pre‐existing inhomogeneities either in the silicon substrate or in the oxide. Another mechanism, proposed by Williams and Woods, involves the image force lowering of the potential energy of the sodium ions. The lowering is increased as the induced electron charge density in the silicon increases with progressive clustering. This positive feedback was proposed to lead to instability. A thermodynamic development of the model by Wojtowcz led to the concept of two‐dimensional phase transitions in the sodium distribution. In the present work we report the result that peaks can be produced by a low temperature anneal with the sodium either at the Al/SiO2 interface or drifted to the Si/SiO2 interface. In the first case, the sodium must be drifted to the silicon side before the peaks appear. This may show that nucleation centers are produced by the anneal and mapped by the sodium. Alternatively, if un‐nucleated segregation occurs it must be a function of sodium in SiO2 rather than of sodium near the Si/SiO2 interface. Correlation with weak spot breakdown was again observed and the effects of using HCl oxides were studied.