CONDUCTION MECHANISMS OF POLYSILICON

EMITTERS WITH THIN

INTERFACIAL
OXIDE LAYERS

H. Schaber, B. Benna, L . Treitinger and A. W . Wieder

Siemens AG
Central Research andDevelopment, Microelectronics, Otto-Hahn-Ring 6 , D 8000 Munchen 83, FRG

ABSTRACT emitter windows,an interfacial oxide of thickness

Polysilicone i t t e r bipolartransistorscontai-
13
ning a t h i n ( M 30 ) oxide 1ayer a t the poly/mono-
Si interface havebeen fabricated.Detailedelectri-
calanalysis of thedevises shows, t h a t theemitter
base diode really is a n -poly-Si/SiO /p-mono-Si
structure. The collector current i s 1 fmited bycom-
binedthermal emission and tunneling mechanisms a-
cross an interfacebarrierinthe conduction band
of 0 aO.8V. The base current flows viatunneling
and kecombi nation a t interface traps, The potential
drop a t the interface 1eads t o a dramatic 1 oss of
transconductance in comparison t o standardbipolar
transistors. Aypl ication of this type of device
forbipolar IC s i s thereforepossible,if 0 can
be significantly reduced by modification of !he
interface .
INTRODUCTION
The leadership of siliconbipolar technology
inthe field o f hi h speed, high complexity cir-
cuits maybe trace1 back t o thesuperiordriving
capabil ity ofbiol ar transistors as compared to
competing technofogies. In order t o further im Po-
ve the system s eed of bipolarIC's,theswitciing
P
time for a sing e transistor (gate delay 4 ) has
t o be further reduced,whilemaintaining the d high
transconductance characteri sti cs.
Polysil icon emi tters havebeen reported /1,2/
t o greatlyincreasethecurrent gain D a t a given
base charge Q , or a1 ternatively, all ow for much
higher base chirge a t a given 3! value. Base resi-
stance R haythus be drastically reduced which
leads toB, speedimprovement on the transjstor le-
vel ( 2' ' ) . Reproducible fabrication of suchenhan-
ced D tvansistorsis, however, s t i l l being impeded
by the 1 ackof basic understanding of thephysical
mechanisms involved. Only a rough classification
i s possible:devices w i t h an intentionally grown,
very thin oxide a t the poly-Si/mono-Si interface
/2/ and devices w i t h interfaces ascleanaspossib-
le /3/. Here we report on an experimental and theo-
retical study of the f i r s t c l a s s of devices, which
usuallygivesthehighestcurrentgains, andhope
t o clarify theunderlyingphysical effects.
EXPERIENTAL
Standardprocessing was used except for for-
mati on of the poly-Si-emi t t e r . After opening the
d =3nm (elligsometric measurement) was grown in
d p j 0 a t 700 C. High resolution TEM observations
on cr%sssectional specimens ( F i g . 11shows t h a t
the oxide layer i s well defined,sharply bounded
and of very homogeneous thickness d =(2.9+0.5)nm
(theuncertainty i s not due t o latepi1 inhomogenei-
t i e s b u t reflects the difficulty i n marking the
.
exact boundary 1 ocation) After oxidation, a 250nm
poly-Si 1aypg wgf deposited and imp1anted with ar-
senic (2x10 cm 60keV). An emitterdiffusion
step was performe: for 30' a t 950°Cand yielded ho-
mogeneous distribution of the As over the poly-Si
thickness. SIMS measurementsshprJed-jn emitterjunc-
tion depth ( a t base doping 1x10 cm ) of less t h a n
the depth resolution of these measurements.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Very high values of current gain (C ~ 3 0 0a t
a base sheet resistance of just 1.5 KR 1 were ob-
tained by this process. The analysis of a typical
input characteristic is shown inFig. 2, where we
have plottedI and I both for normal (downward)
and inverse (ubward) [peration o f the transistor.
A I S O shown i s a numerical simulation /4/ of the
collector current IC based on the measured base
doping profile,
A t fixed basecharge,Iexponentially depends
on theinternal base emittercvoltage V , This
ideal behaviour i s shown by the simula!fdn and also
by theinversetransistoroperation. The external-
ly applied base emittervoltage V necessary t o
drivea given ICin forwardoper%ion i s , however,
Fig. 1: TEM micrograph of the "oxidell interface
(regard the silicon grid!)

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 l y i n excel1 ent agreement with the TEM-resul t
higherthanexpected. The excessvoltage i s i d e n t i - ( F i g . 1 ) .T h i se l i m i n a t e s a t r a n s p o r t mechanism v i a
f i e d as t h ev o l t a g ed r o p V athe Poole-Frenkel-emission,requiring an o x i d e t h i c k -
p o l y - S i / m o n o - s i n t e r f a c e . i f k i si n t e r f a c ev o l t a g e ness o f 12nm.
drop may t h u s b e d i r e c t l y deducedfromforwardand
reverse measurements o f t h e same device(seeFig. Assuming purethermalemission,fromtheinter-
2) as c e p to ft h el i n e si nF i g . 3 at V =0, t h eb a r r i e r
h e i g h t 0, i s determinedto be(0!8&+0.lO)eV. This
value i s I n agreement w i t h t h e f i guTe given i n /5/
f o rt h e n - S i / S i O b a r r i e r h e i g h t i n M I S s t r u c t u r e s
w i t h t h e same o x i i e + t h i c k n e s s . The banddiagram
I n F i g . 2, t h r e e d i f f e r e n t s e c t i o n s may be d i s t i n - f o rt h er e s u l t i n g n -Si/SiO / p - S is t r u c t u r ei s
guished.Forsmallbias, U <250mV, thedevices shown i n F i g . 5. A s i g n i f i c i n t p o t e n t i a l d i f f e r e n c e
behave a c c o r d i n g t o c l as&l transistor theory a c r o s st h eS i 0l a y e r hasbeenmeasuredby
b o t h i n t h e normaland i n v e r s e mode. The symnetry interpretingt&eSchottkyplot(Fig.4)to
ofthecharacteristicsalso shows t h a t c o n d u c t i o n 170-180meV. D i r e c tt u n n e l i n ga t E % E acrossthe
t h r o u g ht h ei n t e r f a c i a lo x i d ei s homogeneous and interfaceisthereforenotpossible dug t o t h e l a c k
n o tv i ap i n h o l e s( t h en o m i n a le m i t t e r and c o l l e c t o r o ff i n a ls t a t e s .
areas are equal 1.
The data shown i n Figs. 2 and 3 can now be
analyzed as follows(seeFigs.5a-c): V i s the
sum o f V . ( t h i si sr e c i s e l yt h ed i f f l k e n c eo f
T= 300 K
theelec$P&nimrefs f on b o t hs i d e so ft h ei n t e r -
face) and i n t o t h e p o t h t i a l d r o p i n t h e mono-Si
spacechargelayer V
n -poly-Sican benesTected,due
.
The p o t e n t i a ld r o pi nt h e
t ot h eh i g hd o p i n g
concentration. Negl ecti ng h o l e c u r r e n t s y i e l ds

g s w -- l/;t (kid + gc C B C ) (3)

andbecause of current continuity

R
IO-^ jint = jt (4)
a
-E
Q
CI
--- I dim. MEDUSA whereby
simulation - (5)
i s thestandarddiffusioncurrentinthe mono-Si.
A t smallforwardbias(Fig.5) V. i sn e a r l yz e r o
and thedevice behaves l i k e an J P h n a r y
F i g . 2: I and I versus V f o r normal
(down- pn- j u n c t i on.
w b d ) an! inverse%pward)operation.
I n t h e second r e g i o n ( 250mV U < < 550mV 1

'"1
b o t h I and I i n downward o e r a t i o n m!Fkedly
d e v i a t g from !he idealbehav?our
thecurrentvoltagecharacteristicsattheinterfa-
. An a n a l y s i s o f 380DK\
34O0K\
ce I (V 1 i s shown i nF i g . 3, where we l o t
1og 5 v S ? h q u a r er o o to f V. . S t r a i g h tl y n e sa r e
obtaifiedfor V. 6 lOOmV. t f l f s shows t h a tt h e
m a j o r i t yc a r r i & P( e l e c t r o n )c u r r e n tp a t ha c r o s s
theinterfaceisnotviadirecttunneling,butis
governedbythermalemissionorthermalfieldemis-
s i o n mechanisms a c c o r d i n g t o

0 i st h eb a r r i e rh e i g h tt o beovercomeby ther-
mi1emission. p d e n o t e st h et u n n e l i n gp r o b a b i l i t y .
F i g . 4 shows a b l o t o f I /T vs.1/T for V 4.
The s t r a i g h t l i n e o b t a i n g d v e r i f i e s t h a t a i t h a l l y
Schottky mechanisms(equ. ( 2 ) )a r er e s p o n s i b l ef o r
electronconduction. The i n t e r f a c e t h i c k n e s s has
been determined from the sl opes i n F i9.3 t o be
-
2.9+0.2nm f o r a l l temperatures. This i s c o n s i s t e n t - F i g . 3: I v e r s u s q a r er o oot ifn t e r f a c ev o l t a -
ge d r o p Vint.

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 300K
-
3LOK
380K
temperature T

6l i " "

F i g . 6: Base c u r r e nvt e r s u si n t e r f a c ev o l t a g e
drop Vint.
The base current i s a l s o measuredas a func-
F i g . 4: Experimental
Schottky
plot. t i o no f V . i n F i g . 6. The l a c ko f anytemperatu-
r e d e p e n d a e b e l ow t h e o n s e t o f de r a d a t i o n
For medium f o r w a r db i a s (250meV4V 4 5ooAleV) Vint strongly indicates that pure tunnel
areresponsiblefortheholecurrent.Inthis
P ng mechanisms
case
canes i n t o p l a y and t h e e l e c t r o n & r e n t i s due
tothermalemission (equ. ( 2 ) ) . The c a r r i e r s become t h e t u n n e l i n g mechanism i s a1 so a two stage pro-
t h e r m a l l ya c t i v a t e d and thentunnelthroughthe cess.Theholes(basecurrent)tunnelthroughthe
i n t e r f a c e as demonstrated i n t h e S c h o t t k y p l o t i n spacechargelayer(withinthemono-Si)towards
Fig. 4. t h e" o x i d e 'i n t e r f a c e ,g e tt r a p p e d ,a n d" w a i t "t o
r e c o m b i n ew i t he l e c t r o n st u n n e l i n ga c r o s st h eo x i -
For U 7 600mV t h el o w e s te l e c t r o ns t a t e s de l a y e r . Such mechanisms are known from t r a n s p o r t
i n t h e mon&i c o n d u c t i o nb a n da r es u f f i c i e n t l yl o w i n v e s t i g a t i o n s o f M I S structures/6/,which show
fordirecttunneling. The crossover between t h e largedegradationeffectssimilartotheresults
Schottky emission type mechanismand puretunne- o b t a i n e df o ro u rd e v i c e s( F i g . 7).
ling of the electron current relates to the kink
i n Fig.3. CONCLUSIONS

However, t h e e l e c t r o n t u n n e l 1i m i t e d r e g i o n I n conclusion, a d e t a i l e d a n a l y s i s o f c u r r e n t
isnotreallydesirableforpracticalapplications, conduction in polysil icon emitter bipolar transi-
sinceseveredegradationhasbeenobservedfor de- s t o r s c o n t a i n i n g a t h i n o x i d e a t t h e poly-Si/mono-
vicesoperated i n t h i s r e g i o n . S i i n t e r f a c e hasbeen presented.Forthedevices
investigatedinthisstudy,thearsenicdidnot
n+-polysilicon - -p-siIicon

Fig.. 5: * Band diagram a t d i f f e r e n t f o r w a r d b i a s , The d o m i n a t i n g t r a n s p o r t p r o c e s s e s a r e i l l u s t r a t e d .

a ) " c l a s s i c a l "t r a n s i s t o rb e h a v i o u r
b)thermionicemissionandthermionicfieldemission
c ) d i r e c tt u n n e l i n gt h r o u g hi n t e r f a c i a ll a y e r

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 mance.
10.~ ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors are ob1 i ged to H . Oppol zer and V . Huber
forthevaluable TEM investigations.
This work hasbeen supported by thetechnological
program of the Federal Department of Research and
Technology of the Federal Republic o f Germany.
The authors alone areresponsibleforthecontents.
c

4
REFERENCES
/1/ J . Graul , A . Glasl , H. Murrmann:
"High-performance transistors with arsenic-im-
planted polysil emi ttersll, IEEE J . Sol id State
Circuits, Vol.SC-11, 1976,pp.491-495.
/2/ H.C. de Graaff, J.G. de Groot:
"The SIS tunnel emitter: A theory foremitters
[ with thininterfacelayers", IEEE Trans.Elec-
& ' & ' & ' d6' k ' d8' k' tron Devices, Val. ED-26, 1979, pp.1771-1776.
U,dVI- /3/ T.H. Ning, R.D. Isaac:
"Effect of emitter contact on current gain of
siliconbipolardevices", IEEE Trans.Electron
F i g . 7: Degradation behaviour. Devices, Vol. ED-27, 1980,pp.2051-2055.
/4/ W.L. Engl :
diffuse from poly through theJnterfacial oxide t o "MEDUSA-UserManual" , ITHE Aachen, Technische
mono-Si. This resulted i n an n /Si0 /p-structure Hochschul e Aachen, 1983.
for the emitter bas0 diode, somewha? slmilar t o a /5/ L.A.Kasprzak, R.B. Laibowitz:
MIS diode with the c.:talrep1aced by n -poly-Si. "Dependenceof theSi-Si0barrierheight on
A t low injection levels theelectroncurrent is Si0thickness in MOS tudelstructures",
pn-junction controlled. A t higher injectionlevels JougnalofApplied Physics, Vol. 48, 1977,
electrons become thermally activated and then tunnel pp. 4281-4286.
acrossthe interfacial oxide layer (thermal field /6/ O.M. Nielsen:
emission). A t high injection levels direct tunne- "Influence of semiconductor tunneling on the
ling dominates the transport. Hole current i s deter- current-vol tage characteristics of tunnel me-
mined by tunneling and recombination a t the inter- tal -oxide-semiconductor diodes" , Journal of
face. I t should be noted that published d a t a on Applied Physics, Vol. 54, 1983, pp.5880-5886.
similardevices / 2 / canbe successfullyinterpre-
ted by this model .
There areseveral consequences forapplica-
tion of polysiliconemitter devices whichcanbe
drawnfrom this study:
The collector current of theSIS-typedevices
investigated here critically depends on thebar-
rier height, which i s afunction of oxide thick-
ness inthe region of interest. Sufficient pro-
cesscontrol isthereforedoubtful.
The high current region dominated by direct
carrier tunneling through the oxide 1 eads t o
degradation and should be avoided.
i i i ) The useful region of high current gain i s go-
verned by the Schottky emission mechanism a-
crossthe oxide barrier. The f i n i t e voltage
drop acrosstheinterfacelayer, however, re-
sults i n a loss of transconductance, which
for most applications i s not acceptable.
Concluding; a barrier withinthe conductance band
i s not acceptableas i t resul t s in a degradation
of transconductance. In thevalence band, however,
such a barrier is highly desirable. The resulting
high current gain and/or low resistive active base
regions allow an extremely f a s t switching perfor-

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