Enhancement of performance and reliability in MOSFETs via high-pressure microwave annealing

Abstract

This study introduces a novel approach to enhance the electrical and reliability characteristics of metal-oxide-semiconductor transistors (MOSFETs) through high-pressure microwave annealing (HPMWA) as a post-metallization annealing (PMA) technique. HPMWA effectively passivates traps by supplying energy in the form of both heat and microwaves, thereby offering key advantages such as low-temperature processing (<= 350 degrees C), rapid volumetric heating, and material selectivity. These factors collectively lead to significant improvements in interface quality, resulting in superior device performance, including a low subthreshold slope (65.7 mV/dec), high on/off ratio (6.64 x 10(7)), and elevated field-effect mobility (110.4 cm(2)/V s), compared to devices treated with conventional thermal annealing methods. The findings are experimentally validated by measuring interfacial trap density and positive bias stability. Consequently, HPMWA emerges as a crucial process for future semiconductor applications that require low-temperature processing, particularly in flexible electronics and back-end-of-line integration.