Investigation of Relationship between Interface State and Random Telegraph Noise Using Metal--Oxide--Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistors Fabricated on Si(100), (110), and (111) Substrates

It is clarified that suboxides and interface traps are closely linked to threshold-voltage variation(Delta V-th) due to random telegraph noise (RTN) from an investigation of dependence of Delta V-th on silicon-surface orientation: Si(100), (110), and (111). The amount of RTN traps increases with increasing amount of suboxides in the interfacial transition layer. With regard to the total amount of suboxides, the Si(110) surface orientation gives a larger amount than Si(100) and Si(111). Furthermore, we found that Si(110) has the potential to give fast RTNs with a larger Delta V-th than Si(111). Accordingly, Delta V-th for Si(110) is larger than those of Si(100) and Si(111). Attention should be paid to the possibility of the impact of RTN on Si(110) as the vertical plane of a three-dimensional device. (C) 2012 The Japan Society of Applied Physics