Optimization problems for plasma-induced damage - A concept for plasma-induced damage design

摘要

This article demonstrates optimization problems for plasma-induced physical damage (PPD) in MOSFET. Since plasma-induced Si substrate damage (one of PPD mechanisms) degrades MOSFET performance such as drain current (Ion) and off-state leakage current (Ioff), an implementation of PPD impact on MOSFET specifications is quite important in developing plasma processes. However, as presented, the degradation of Ion and Ioff by PPD is in a tradeoff relationship. Therefore, one can not minimize Ion- and Ioff-degradation independently by tuning process parameters - one can only optimize the process parameters (ex. maximize a plasma-process performance) to satisfy given MOSFET specifications (Ion and Ioff). A methodology of optimization problems is demonstrated by focusing on PPD in the source / drain extension region of MOSFET.