Interface-State Generation in Radiation-Hard Oxides

Results of several experiments are presented to demonstrate that there is a time-dependent buildup of interface states in hardened dry oxides following pulsed LINAC irradiation and to establish the field and dose dependencies of the interface-state buildup in these dry oxides. These results suggest that the same mechanisms are responsible for the interface-state buildup in both wet-grown and dry-grown oxide capacitors, the major difference being that the magnitude of the buildup in a hardened dry oxide is considerably smaller than that in a hardened wet oxide. For several lots of wet-grown and dry-grown oxide capacitors no increase in interface states was observed following exposure to a neutron fluence of ~1013 n/cm2.