Data Retention Time and Electrical Characteristics of Cell Transistor According to STI Materials in 90 nm DRAM

Cell transistor and data retention time characteristics were studied in 90 nm design rule 512M-bit DRAM, for the first time. And, the characteristics of cell transistor are investigated for different STI gap-fill materials. HDP oxide with high compressive stress increases the threshold voltage of cell transistor, whereas the P-SOG oxide with small stress decreases the threshold voltage of cell transistor. Stress between silicon and gap-fill oxide material is found to be the major cause of the shift of the cell transistor threshold voltage. If high stress material is used for STI gap fill, channel-doping concentration can be reduced, so that cell junction leakage current is decreased and data retention time is increased.