Impact of Nitridation on Bias Temperature Instability and Hard Breakdown Characteristics of SiON MOSFETs

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The authors studied the impact of nitridation on the gate oxide reliability issues, in particular for BTI, TDDB/HB. The measurement results are clearly presented, which can contribute to reconciling the controversies in this area. Before recommending for acceptance, some minor revisions can be considered. 

1. It seems that the process parameters of POR and SN are very close to each other. Are there devices with RF power varying in a wider range for a more systematic comparison?

2. It is also better to have devices without nitridation as a reference point. 

3. The authors may consider combine Figs. 4-8 (perhaps also Figs. 9-13, and Figs. 15-22) as one figure panel.    

Author Response

A detailed reply to the individual Reviewer’s comments is uploaded as a separate file.

Reviewer 2 Report

Review Report:

It is interesting and worth pursuing to study how the nitridation impacts the reliability of MOSFETs subjected to negative and positive bias temperature instability as well as hard breakdown (HB) characteristics. The authors made a comprehensive investigation in the effect of nitridation on the reliability of MOSFETs, discussed and explained the experimental results and findings very well, and provided references related to the research. The paper could be a good reference in the field.

Comments for the authors to improve the manuscript are as following:

1.     How many devices (transistors) were measured for each fabricated wafer in this research? How much is the percentage of variation for the measurements. Provide some interpretations about the variations.

2.     The unit at X and Y axis in Figure 1 is missing.

Author Response

A detailed reply to the individual Reviewer’s comments is uploaded as a separate file.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx