Hydrogen-related reliability issues for advanced microelectronics

Potentially significant reliability effects due to hydrogen are discussed for highly scaled bulk-Si and silicon-on-insulator (SOI) microelectronics. Many of these effects are made worse by increasing device temperatures associated with the increasing power dissipation in advanced integrated circuits. Higher temperatures of operation can reduce times to dielectric breakdown, and potentially lead to significant dopant passivation, especially in B-doped regions. Dopant passivation due to hydrogen can magnify the effects of statistical variations in dopant density in ultra-small devices during long-term device use, leading to a loss of circuit control over time. The possibilities are also discussed for hydrogen transport and reactions in the buried insulators of Sol technologies. Differences in wafer and IC processing conditions,can lead to differences in hydrogen concentrations in bonded and SIMOX (separation by the implantation of oxygen) wafers, as confirmed by electron-paramagnetic resonance studies that identify hydrogen-related defects in bonded wafers that are not observed in SIMOX wafers. Whether there is a significant impact of these hydrogen-related defects on the reliability of future highly-scaled SOI integrated circuits remains to be determined. It is concluded that awareness and control of hydrogen concentrations, transport, and reactions are essential to ensure the long-term reliability of advanced Si-based microelectronics. A brief discussion is also provided on the likely significant impact of hydrogen on the performance and reliability of emerging nanotechnologies. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.