Static technique for precise measurements of surface potential

and interface state density in MOS structures

K. Ziegler and E. Klausmann
Institut fuer Angewandte Festkoerperphysik der Fraunhofergesellschaft, 78 Freiburg, Eckerstrasse 4, West Germany
(Received 16 December 1974)
A new static technique for a very accurate measurement of charge, surface potential, low-frequency
capacitance, interface charge, and interface state density in MOS structures is presented. A
comparison with the conductance method is made. For a <111>-oriented n -type silicon wafer,
oxidized in dry oxygen and annealed in hydrogen, the distribution of the interface state density is
shown over an energy range of 0.9 eV within the energy gap.
PACS numbers: 73.20., 73.40.Q
A well-known method for the determination of the low-
frequency capacitance, the surface potential, and the
interface state density of an MOS structure is the volt-
age slow-ramp technique of Castagne, 1 Kerr, 2 and
Kuhn.
3
A charge slow-ramp technique for the determi-
nation of the MOS gate charge, the surface potential,
and the interface charge has been reported by Koomen. 4
Both methods assume quasistatic conditions. In this
letter, we present a measurement technique which
approximates the ideal case of a static measurement to
a much higher degree. Because this new method is a
pOint-by-point technique, it is very appropriate for use
with digital instrumentation or data -collection systems.
In addition, a higher accuracy in the determination of
the MOS parameters, and in the energy distribution of
the interface state density over a larger part of the
energy gap is attainable. In the last part of this letter,
we compare the results of this method with those ob-
tained by the conductance techniqueS for a silicon n-
type sample.
The basic circuit for the static technique is shown in
Fig. 1. A voltage-independent capacitor Co is connect-
ed in series with the MOS capacitor. The magnitude of
Co is chosen to be comparable to that of the oxide capa-
citance COX' In parallel with the MOS capacitor, a cir-
cuit capacitance C
c
is indicated. C
c
is the capacitance
of the sample holder and the connecting wires. A direct
voltage U B is applied to the series combination of Co
and C c in parallel with the MOS structure. U B is mea-
sured with a digital voltmeter. After a steady state is
reached in the MOS structure the voltage drop U
o
across
Co is determined from the output of a high -input -im-
pedance operational amplifier used as a voltage
follower.
The parameters of the MOS structure are obtained
as follows: The voltage V across the MOS capacitor is
V=-(UB-U
o
)'
The charge Q
m
which flows onto the gate electrode is
Q
m
= - corro - cy. (1)
By varying the voltage U B the charge Qm can be obtained
as a function of the voltage V. Differentiating Q
m
with
respect to V yields the low-frequency MOS capacitance
C _dQm
LF - dV .
Except for an additive constant, 1/Iso' the surface poten-
400 Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 26, No.7, 1 April 1975
tial 1/I
s
is the l<ifference between the voltage V and the
voltage drop Qm/Cox across the oxide:
1/Is = V - Qm/Cox + 1/150= s + 1/1
50
'
where s '" V - Qm/Cox is the surface potential increment
caused by the applied voltage V. s can be measured
with high precision using the static technique. From
Eq. (1) we obtain
s= (1 + Cc/Cox)V+ (Co/Cox)Uo'
1/1
50
is the surface potential at the voltage V = o. 1/I
so
must be determined independently. The oxide capaci-
tance Cox can be obtained from the MOS capacitance in
strong accumulation. The flat-band voltage is the value
of Vat which V - Qm/Cox= -1/150'
If the static measurements of 5 are combined with
high-frequency MOS capacitance measurements one can
determine 1/Iso' a nd, in addition, the semiconductor dop-
ing density N
v
. We have applied the C ; ~ analysis
S
to the
high-frequency MOS capacitance C
HF
C
ac
is the semi-
conductor space-charge capacitance. The relations C ; ~
= - [2/( EsqN
v
A2) ](1/15 + kT /q), valid in depletion for n-
silicon, and 1/C
ac
= 1/C
HF
-1/C
ox
lead to
(
Cox _1)2 = _ 2(Cox/ A)2 (s + 1/I
so
+ kT),
C
HF
EsqN
v
q
where A is the gate electrode area. Thus, the (Cox/C
HF
- 1)2 versus s curve is a straight line in depletion. The
doping density N D can be obtained from the slope, and
the additive constant 1/I
so
from the intercept on the s
axis. If these values are known the interface state den-
sity Nss can be obtained from Nss = (1/ Aq)[C
LF
(1- C
LF
/
coxt
1
- C
ac
). In depletion C
sc
could be taken from the
high-frequency MOS capacitance. However, because in
inversion the minority carriers do not follow the high-
frequency ac signal, and in accumulation the interface
states do follow, C
sc
was calculated from expressions
Co
Electro-
meter
Digitol -
volt-
meter
FIG. 1. Basic circuit of the measurement setup.
Copyright 1975 American Institute of Physics 400
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1.5
N
1.0
.
U.
I

X
0
u
0.5
-0.8 -0.6 -O.L
..... 0
-02!IP kT
-1 so q
J6
s
(Voltl
FIG. 2. Measured (C.,./C
HF
-)2 vs <l>s values.
given in Ref. 6. The sum of the charge Q
ss
in the inter-
face states and the fixed charge Qf in the oxide also can
be determined from Q
ss
+ Qf = - Qm - Q.c. Q.c is the
semiconductor space charge. Then, the interface state
density can be obtained from the fact that Nss=' (I/Aq)
x (dQss/dl/J
s
), where knowledge of the low-frequency MOS
capacitance is not necessary.
In our static measurements, we have used a Keithley
solid-state electrometer model 610c as an unity-gain
operational amplifier. A Six-figure digital voltmeter
(Hewlett Packard model 3462A) was used to measure
the output of the electrometer. Before applying a new
voltage all the capacitors were shorted for a short
time in order to eliminate extraneous Signals which
might arise from the off -set current of the electrom-
eter' and the finite time constants of the capacitors.
The voltage U B was applied slowly by use of a poten-
tiometer to avoid causing instabilities in the electrom-
eter. The capacitance Co, including the input capacitance
of the electrometer, was measured in the following
manner: Instead of the MOS capacitor, a voltage- and
frequency-independent capacitor C
1
with a geometric
form similar to that of a MOS capacitor was placed in
the circuit. Then Co was obtained from the voltage
division from the expression CO/C
l
= (U B - Uo)/U
o
C
l
,
C
e
, and Cox were measured with a General Radio 1615A
capacitance bridge by three terminal measurements.
The high-frequency MOS capacitance was measured
with a Boonton RF admittance bridge model 33B/l at
30 MHz.
In order to check the accuracy of the static tech-
nique' the MOS capacitor was replaced by several volt-
age -independent capacitors C. For such linear capaci-
tors, it follows that V - Qm/C =. O. Thus, the measured
values of (V - Qm/C) indicate the error of the surface
potential inc rement s' assuming that the error in the
oxide capacitance is not larger than the possible error
of the General Radio 1615A capacitance at 1 kHz
(0.01%). The maximum error of s was 0.0002x I VI
+ O. 000 05 V, where the second term results from the
nonlinearity of the MOS capacitance. The time between
401 Appl. Phys. Lett., Vol. 26, No.7, 1 April 1975
applying the voltage U B and measuring the voltage U
o
was 10 sec. Co had a value of 360 pF. The capacitor
time constants were larger than 5x10
5
sec. Output of
the electrometer used was equal to the input within 1
ppm. The off-set current was 1. 5xlO-
l5
A.
The maximum error of the low-frequency MOS capa-
citance was 0.2%, occurring at extreme values of the
C
LF
(V) curve. At more favorable positions for numeri-
cal differentiating, for example, in accumulation and
inverSion, the error was smaller than 0.05%. The
measurement error of the doping denSity was smaller
than 1%, and that of the additive constant I/J
so
smaller
than 0.002 V. Near midgap, Nss values of a few times
10
9
V-l cm-
2
can be detected.
The reported sample is a (111) -oriented n-type sili-
con wafer oxidized in dry oxygen at 1140 C to a thick-
ness of 1000 A, and annealed 30 min at 350C dry
hydrogen after deposition of aluminum dots. The dots
have a diameter of 0.5 mm.
Figure 2 shows experimental values of (Cox/C
HF
- 1)2
versus s' A straight line is fitted to the experimental
values. As long as the majority and minority carrier
concentrations at the interface are negligible in com-
parison to the doping density, an excellent fit is ob-
tained. For the doping density the value (4.93 O. 05)
XlO15 cm-
3
was measured, and for I/J
so
the value (0.128
0.002) V.
In Fig. 3(a) curve (1) shows the distribution of the
interface state density obtained by the static technique.
,---------------------,15.1011
la)
;:::;} static method
aDD conductance method
........ staloc method
D D D conductance method
"l'E
u Ib)
Band
Conduction Bond
-to -0.8 - 0.6 - 0.4 - 0.2
_tV
FIG. 3. Distribution of the interface state denSity. For
curve (1) the interface is assumed to be an equipotential plane.
For curve (2) surface potential fluctuations are taken into ac-
count. (b) Interface state density on a logarithmic scale.
K. Ziegler and E. Klausmann 401
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For comparison, the distribution as obtained for the
same sample with the conductance method by Deuling,
Klaus mann, and Goetzberger
7
is also shown. Near mid-
gap, a reasonable agreement exists in accordance with
the results in Ref. 8. Near the conduction band the
curves differ. Possible causes for the difference are the
assumption of an oxide capacitance which is too small,
a nonuniform doping profile, or surface potential fluc-
tuations. It is shown in Ref. 9 that surface potential
fluctuations are the reason for the deviation, and that
employing the equivalent circuit given by Brews
10
yields
curve (2) which agrees very well with the results ob-
tained by the conductance method.
Figure 3(b) shows on a logarithmic scale the distribu-
tion of the interface state density over an energy range
of 0.9 eV within the energy gap. As in curve (2) of
Fig. 3(a), the equivalent circuit of Brews
10
is used.
The large range over which the interface state denSity
can be determined with the new technique is remarkable.
The interface state denSity increases strongly toward
the band edges. Near the valence band, the denSity
seems to be higher. The maximum at O. 40 e V from the
valence band edge can be due to impurities
ll
,12 or im-
perfections, 13 e. g., excess oxygen incorporated into
the interface. Energy levels at that position were mea-
sured for implanted oxygen by Fahrner and
Goetzberger. 14,15
The static technique described here is preferable to
both the voltage slow-ramp method and the charge slow-
ramp method if high accuracy, high resolution, and
large measurement range are required. The static
character of the new technique is useful in inversion.
For fast measurements the slow-ramp method is pre-
ferable. On the other hand, the surface potential can be
determined more easily by the new technique and the
charge slow-ramp method, because no integration is
necessary. The analysis of the high -frequency MOS
capacitance curve to obtain 1J!so used here is more re-
liable than using the accumulation condition or the
intrinsic condition as suggested by Berglund
16
and
Koomen.
4
Moreover, that analysis is preferable, be-
cause the doping denSity is obtained Simultaneously, and
the uniformity of the doping profile right up to the inter-
face can be checked easily. 17 In addition to the determi-
nation of the MOS parameters mentioned above, the
static technique is also useful for the determination of
the semiconductor doping profile right up to the semi-
conductor surface using an MIS capacitor 0 18
The authors wish to thank Professor A. Goetzberger,
Professor CoR. Crowell, and Dr. K. Eisele for criti-
cal reading of the manuscript and many helpful
suggestions.
lR. Castagne, C. R. Acad. Sci. B 267, 866 (1968).
2D. Kerr, International Conference on Properties and Uses of
MIS Structures, Grenoble, 1969, p. 303 (unpublished).
3M, Kuhn, Solid-State Electron. 13, 873 (1970).
4J. Koomen, Solid-State Electron. 14, 571 (1971).
5E. H. Nicollian and A. Goetzberger, Bell Syst. Tech. J. 46,
1055 (1967).
~ . M . Brown and P. V. Gray, J. Electrochem. Soc. 115,
760 (1968).
7H. Deuling, E. Klausmann, and A. Goetzberger, Solid-State
Electron. 15, 559 (1972).
8G.Declerck, R. van Overstraeten, and G. Broux, Solid-
State Electron. 16, 1451 (1973).
9K. Ziegler and E. Klausmann (unpublished).
10J.R. Brews, J. Appl. Phys. 43, 3451 (1972).
I1S. Kar and W. Dahlke, Appl. Phys. Lett. 18, 401 (1971).
12S. Kar and W. Dahlke, Solid-State Electron. 15, 221 (1972).
13B.E. Deal, M. Sklar, A.S. Grove, and E.H. Snow, J.
Electrochem. Soc. 114, 266 (1967).
14W. Fahrner and A.Goetzberger, Appl. Phys. Lett. 21, 329
(1972) .
15W. Fahrner, J. Electrochem. Soc. 121, 784 (1974).
16C. N. Berglund, IEEE Trans. Electron. Devices ED-13, 701
(1966).
17K. Ziegler (unpublished).
18K. Ziegler, E. Klausmann, and S. Kar, Solid-State Electron.
18, 189 (1975).
New high-speed bubble garnets based on large gyromagnetic
ratios (high g)
R. C. LeCraw, S. L. Blank, and G. P. Vella-Coleiro
Bell Laboratories. Murray Hill, New Jersey 07974
(Received 4 December 1974; in final form 20 January 1975)
A new approach to overcoming the problem of dynamic conversion in high-mobility bubble garnets is
described based on large gyromagnetic ratios (high g factors). In a film of
EUI.4,Yo.4,CaI.\Fe3.9Sio.6Ge0.5012' a g factor greater than 30 has been obtained, which increases the
usable domain wall velocity before onset of dynamic conversion by more than an order of magnitude
over comparable bubble garnet films with g approximately 2. Using a circuit period of 28.8 /-Lm,
propagation data showing no deterioration in bias margins out to \0
7
steps were obtained on this
film at 1 and 2 MHz.
PACS numbers: 7S.60.F, 8S.70.G
Attempts to increase the speed of LPE magnetic bub-
ble garnets were limited initially by low domain wall
mobilities usually -100 cm/sec Oe. When useful higher-
mobility films became available, 1-3 another limitation
to high-speed domain wall velocities was encountered.
Experimentally, erratic propagation of individual bub-
402 Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 26, No.7, 1 April 1975
Copyright 1975 American Institute of Physics 402
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