Thin Solid Films - Elsevier Sequoia S.A.

, Lausanne - Printed in Switzerland 155

Short Communication

The shielding metallic interlayer technique hardens MJS devices against

ionizing radiation effects

D. ESlEVE AND J. BUXO

Laboratoire d’dutomatique et de ses Applications Spatiales da C.N.R.S., 3l-Toulouse (France)

(Received November 22, 1971)

Degradations induced by ionizing radiations on MIS devices are related

to a positive space charge appearing in the oxide film’. In an earlier communi-
cation2, the authors discussed the physical origin for this degradation process.
They made the following observations.
(a) Under irradiation, an emission current component should be associated
with each material present at either the M-I or the I-S heterojunction.
(b) For each material, this emission current component is defined by a
mechanism similar to that of secondary emission.
(c) In order that the current continuity condition holds under irradiation,
a positive space charge region must develop in the insulator; a steady state is
reached when the electron photoconduction current Jr,,, flowing in the neutral
zone equals the total emission current J, at the heterojunction.
(d) When the metal to substrate bias voltage Vo is strongly negative under
irradiation, the positive charges are entirely located near to the metal electrode.
The technique3 described in this communication, called the “shielding
metallic interlayer technique ” (SMIT), consists of a practical application of
these general considerations. It acts as a hardening system for the positive space
charge located close to the metallic electrode in an MIS structure submitted
to ionizing radiation.

The shielding metallic interlayer technique involves shielding the electro-

static effect due to the space charge region located close to the metal electrode
by a thin metallic interlayer introduced in the oxide film, as shown in Fig. l(b).
In order to clarify the operating mode of such a multilayer structure, let us
remember the basic degradation process of a negatively biased MIS structure
(Fig. l(a)). Under irradiation, a photoconduction current Jr,,, flows through the
neutral part of the insulator. At the M-I heterojunction an exchange of electrons,

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156 SHORT COMMUNICATIONS

_qv(x)

Fig. 1. (a) Classical MIS structure; (b) SMIT structure.

due to a secondary electron emission phenomenon, takes place between the

two materials M, I and defines the electron emission current value J, = J,-Ju,.
The emission yields of metals are known to be lower than those of insulators.
Consequently a positive space charge region must develop that reduces JIM
and increases JMIin order to allow the current continuity condition

to hold in the steady state.

Let us now consider the SMIT structure shown in Fig. l(b). The metallic
interlayer prevents the space charge region induced close to the metallic electrode
from inducing any charge at the silicon surface. Under these circumstances,
the electric field that actually controls the MIS device behaviour will not depend
on the amount of positive charge located in the shielded region. However, a
positive space charge region could appear at the metallic interlayer on the non-
shielded side. In order to minimize this effect, the metallic interlayer width
should not exceed 50 A. Since this distance is less than the mean free path of
the hot electrons generated by irradiation, its inclusion does not disturb the
exchange of carriers between the two insulators I, and I,.
Furthermore, the remaining discontinuity may be exactly compensated by
means of the “ shielding voltage ” V’s,which permits an adjustment of the values
of the electric fields E, and E,.
Thus the two photoconduction currents Jphl and JphZ can be exactly
equilibrated and no space charge region will appear in the neighbourhood of
this thin metallic interlayer.

Experimental result and discussion

A 6000 A thick oxide film was thermally grown on an n-type silicon sub-
strate at 1100°C. An aluminium film a few angstroms thick was deposited
subsequently. A second SiO, film about 100 A in thickness was obtained by
reactive deposition. Finally, this multilayer structure was covered by a thick
aluminium electrode of about 5000 A.

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SHORT COMMUNICATIONS 157

The small thickness of the reactively deposited SiO, film and the presence
in it of a high pinhole density ensures electric contact between the metal
electrode and the metallic interlayer.
Since the electric field in I, was always equal to zero, in order to eliminate
the current discontinuity at the metallic interlayer the structure was biased under
irradiation, with a Vo voltage equal to zero, and an electron beam of energy
less than 9 keV was used. Under these energy conditions the I-S heterojunction
is not reached by the primary beam, and no space charge region appears there2.
The experimental results obtained are illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3. The
AV, shift subsequent to the irradiation is 20 times lower for the SMIT structure
than for a classical MOS one. This result shows clearly the advantage of the
proposed hardening technique and the validity of our degradation model.

Fig. 2. I, (a) Non-irradiated MOS structure, (b) irradiated classical MOS structure; A V, = 11 V.
II, (a) Non-irradiated SMIT structure, (b) irradiated SMIT structure; A& = 0.5 V.

14 . A\6; IV1
13.
12.

'11.--_-------_
10.

9.
8..
7.

6.
5.
4.
3,
2.
1_ (21
0 __----_---- -_- E, k*V

0 12 3 C 6 6 7 0 910

Fig. 3. (1) Classical MOS structure, (2) SMIT structure.

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158 SHORT COMMUNICATIONS

It should be noticed that the small AV, shift appearing in the SMIT
structure will be reduced to zero by modifying the “ shielding voltage ” value Vs.
However, by choosing a large enough value for I$, in order to define an
important electric field in the insulator I,, it seems possible to obtain a very
good behaviour of the SMIT structure under ionizing radiation for a large
range of negative biasing Vo values.
We verify in this note that the degradation process in an MIS structure
under ionizing radiation is due to an exchange of carriers at the M-I or the
I-S heterojunction, controlled by a mechanism that is similar to the secondary
emission phenomenon’. We show experimentally that the presence of a very
thin, embedded, metallic layer produces a very small discontinuity in the electron
transport in the oxide. The technique proposed to harden MIS devices against
ionizing radiation effects uses these two results. Its practical validity has been
tested on an Al-Si02-Si structure, but it can be used with any other materials
constituting an MIS structure.

REFlERENCES

1 B. ANDRE.J. Buxo, D. ESTEVEAND H. MARTINOT,Effects of ionizing radiation on M.O.S.

devices, Solid State Electr., 12 (1969) 123-131.
2 D. ESTEVEAND J. Buxo, Degradation mechanism of M.O.S. structures and transistors under
ionizing radiation, Electr. Letters, 6 (1970) 198-200.
3 D. E~TEVE AND J. Buxo, Dispositif et pro&E de protection d’une structure m&al isolant semi-
conducteur contre les rayonnements ionisants, Brevet A.N.V.A.R. (Patent) n0 7110927,
29 mars 1971.

Thin Solid Films, IO (1972) 155-158