Water-Related Proton Charge Motion in Dielectrics.

We studied the electrical behavior of various dielectric materials potentially useful as the interlevel dielectric for the MOS IC. Our interest was the water-related instability of these materials. The main tools of our study were the Triangular Voltage Sweep (TVS) and current vs. time (1-t) techniques. We came to the conclusion that all tested dielectrics exhibit some water-related instability. Some of them are afflicted even after a 450C anneal, others degrade when exposed to atmospheric moisture. In this paper, we discuss the effect of the absorbed water on the performance of the MOS IC and suggest criteria for the evaluation of dielectric materials.