Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

Eu-seok Kim

Young-Kyou Park

Chang-jip Yang

Baek-gyun Lim

A semiconductor device provides improved performance at high integration levels by utilizing a gate insulation layer formed from silicon-oxynitride which prevents impurities in the doped gate electrode from diffusing into the semiconductor substrate during the fabrication processes. A method for forming the silicon-oxynitride layer utilizes a vertical diffusion furnace to increase productivity and achieve a uniform nitrogen density in the silicon-oxynitride layer. The method includes forming an initial oxide layer on a semiconductor substrate, changing the initial oxide layer into a pure oxide layer, and then changing the pure oxide layer into a silicon-oxynitride layer. The initial oxide layer is formed by loading a semiconductor substrate into a diffusion furnace at a temperature between 550&tilde;750&deg; C., raising the temperature of the substrate to between 700&tilde;950&deg; C., and injecting a mixture of oxygen and nitrogen has into the diffusion furnace. The initial oxide layer is then changed into a pure oxide layer by utilizing either a wet or dry oxidation method. The pure oxide layer is then changed into a silicon-oxynitride layer by injecting N O into the diffusion furnace. Finally, nitrogen gas is injected into the furnace to cool the substrate down slowly, thereby reduce stress in the substrate.

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Seoul, South Korea

Eu-seok Kim