The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 02, 2003
Filed:
Jun. 29, 2001
Shimpei Tsujikawa, Hino, JP;
Jiro Yugami, Yokohama, JP;
Toshiyuki Mine, Fussa, JP;
Masahiro Ushiyama, Kokubunji, JP;
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
The present invention provides a MOS semiconductor device which enables gate leakage current reduction with a thinner gate dielectric film for higher speed, and a production method thereof. According to the present invention, a gate dielectric film is made as follows: after forming a silicon nitride film with a specified thickness, it is annealed in an oxidizing atmosphere to form silicon oxide on the silicon nitride film , then this silicon oxide is completely removed by exposure to a dissolving liquid. As a result, at depths between 0.12 nm and 0.5 nm from the top surface of the silicon nitride film in the gate dielectric film whose main constituent elements are silicon, nitrogen and oxygen, the nitrogen concentration is higher than the oxygen concentration. This enables the use of a thinner gate dielectric film with silicon, nitrogen and oxygen as main constituent elements while at the same time realizing reduction in leakage currents.