6.

6 The MOS Capacitance (mc11)

In depletion the MOS capacitance is obtained from the series connection of the oxide capacitance and the
capacitance of the depletion layer, or:
Table of Contents - Glossary - Study Aids - ¬ ®

In this Section

1. Introduction
2. Simple capacitance model
3. The flatband capacitance (mc12)
4. Exact analysis
5. Deep depletion capacitance where xd is the variable depletion layer width which is calculated from:
6. Experimental results and comparison with theory
7. Non-Ideal effect in MOS capacitors

Next: 6.7 The exact analytical solution

(mc2)

In order to find the capacitance corresponding to a specific value of the gate voltage we also need to use the
6.6.1 Introduction relation between the potential across the depletion region and the gate voltage, given by:

Capacitance voltage measurements of MOS capacitor structure provide a wealth of information about the
structure which is of direct interest when one evaluates an MOS process. Since the MOS structure is simple
to fabricate the technique is widely used.
(mc8)
To understand capacitance-voltage measurements one must first be familiar with the frequency dependence
of the measurement. This frequency dependence occurs primarily in inversion since a certain time is needed In inversion the capacitance becomes independent of the gate voltage. The low frequency capacitance equals
to generate the minority carriers in the inversion layer. Thermal equilibrium is therefore not obtained the oxide capacitance since charge is added to and from the inversion layer in a low frequency measurement.
immediately. The high frequency capacitance is obtained from the series connection of the oxide capacitance and the
capacitance of the depletion layer having its maximum width, xd,max. The capacitances are given by:
The low frequency or quasi-static measurement maintains thermal equilibrium at all times. This capacitance
is the difference in charge divided by the difference in gate voltage while the capacitor is in equilibrium at
each voltage. A typical measurement is performed with an electrometer which measured the charge added
per unit time as one slowly varies the applied gate voltage.

The high frequency capacitance is obtained from a small signal capacitance measurement at high frequency.
The gate voltage is varied slowly to obtain the capacitance versus voltage. Under such conditions one finds (mc13)
that the charge in the inversion layer does not change from the equilibrium value corresponding to the
The capacitance of an MOS capacitor as calculated using the simple model is shown in the figure below. The
applied DC voltage. The high frequency capacitance therefore reflects the charge variation in the depletion
dotted lines represent the simple model while the solid line corresponds to the low frequency capacitance as
layer and the (rather small) movement of the inversion layer charge.
obtained from the exact analysis.
In this section we first derive the simple capacitance model which is based on the full depletion
approximations and our basic assumption. The comparison with the exact low frequency capacitance reveals
that the largest error occurs at the flatband voltage. We therefore derive the exact flatband capacitance using
the linearized Poisson's equation. Then we discuss the full exact analysis followed by a discussion of deep
depletion as well as the non-ideal effects in MOS capacitors.

6.6.2 Simple capacitance model

The capacitance of an MOS capacitor is obtained using the same assumptions as in the analysis in section
6.5. The MOS structure is treated as consisting of a series connection of two capacitors: the capacitance of
the oxide and the capacitance of the depletion layer.

In accumulation there is no depletion layer. The remaining capacitor is the oxide capacitance, so that the
capcitance equals:
mosexact.xls - moslfcap.gif
 Fig. 6.6.1 Low frequency capacitance of an MOS capacitor. Shown are the exact solution for the low
frequency capacitance (solid line) and the low and high frequency capacitance obtained with the
6.6.5 Deep depletion capacitance
simple model (dotted lines). The red square indicates the flatband voltage and capacitance, while the
Deep depletion occurs in an MOS capacitor when measuring the high-frequency capacitance while sweeping
green square indicates the threshold voltage and capacitance. Na = 1017 cm-3 and tox = 20 nm. the gate voltage "quickly". Quickly here means that the gate voltage must be changed fast enough so that the
structure is not in thermal equilibrium. One then observes that when ramping the voltage from flatband to
threshold and beyond the inversion layer is not or only partially formed as the generation of minority carriers
6.6.3 Flat band capacitance can not keep up with the amount needed to form the inversion layer. The depletion layer therefore keeps
increasing beyond its maximum thermal equilibrium value, xd,T resulting in a capacitance which further
The simple model predicts that the flatband capacitance equals the oxide capacitance. However, the decreases with voltage.
comparison with the exact solution of the low frequency capacitance as shown in the above figure reveals
The time required to reach thermal equilibrium when abruptly biasing the MOS capacitor at a voltage larger
that the error can be substancial. The reason for this is that we have ignored any charge variation in the
then the threshold voltage can be estimated by taking the ratio of the total charge in the inversion layer to the
semiconductor. We will therefore now derive the exact flatband capacitance.
thermal generation rate of minority carriers. A complete analysis should include both a surface generation
To derive the flatband capacitance including the charge variation in the semiconductor we first linearize rate as well as generation in the depletion layer and the quasi-neutral region. A good approximation is
Poisson's equation. Since the potential across the semiconductor at flatband is zero, we expect the potential obtained by considering only the generation rate in the depletion region xd,dd. This yields the following
to be small as we vary the gate voltage around the flatband voltage. Poisson's equation can then be simplified equation:
to:

(mc16) (mc14)

The solution to this equation is: where the generation in the depletion layer was assumed to be constant. The rate of change required to
observe deep depletion is then obtained from:

(mc17)
(mc15)
where LD is called the Debye length. The solution of the potential enables the derivation of the capacitance
of the semiconductor under flatband conditions, or: This equation enables to predict that deep depletion is less likely at higher ambient temperature since the
intrinsic concentration ni increases exponentially with temperature, while it is more likely to occur in MOS
structures made with wide bandgap materials (for instance SiC for which Eg = 3 eV) as the intrinsic
concentration decreases exponentially with the value of the energy bandgap.

In silicon MOS structures one finds that the occurance of deep depletion can be linked to the minority carrier
(mc18) lifetime: while structures with a long (0.1 ms) lifetime require a few seconds to reach thermal equilibrium
which results in a pronounced deep depletion effect at room temperature , structures with a short (1 ms)
The flatband capacitance of the MOS structure at flatband is obtained by calculating the series connection of lifetime do not show this effect.
the oxide capacitance and the capacitance of the semiconductor, yielding:
Carrier generation due to light will increase the generation rate beyond the thermal generation rate which we
assumed above and reduce the time needed to reach equilibrium. Deep depletion measurements are therefore
done in the dark.

(mc19) 6.6.6 Experimental results and comparison with theory

As an example we show below the measured low frequency (quasi-static) and high frequency capacitance-
6.6.4 Exact analysis voltage curves of an MOS capacitor. The capacitance was measured in the presence of ambient light as well
as in the dark as explained in the figure caption.
For a description of the derivation of the MOS capacitance using the exact analysis we refer the reader to that
section.
 presence of light of the MOS capacitor (filled squares) and the low and high frequency capacitance
obtained with the simple model (dotted lines). Fitting parameters are Na = 3.95 x 1015 cm-3 and tox =
80 nm.

6.6.7 Non-Ideal effects in MOS capacitors

Non-ideal effects in MOS capacitors include fixed charge, mobile charge and charge in surface states. All
three types of charge can be identified by performing a capacitance-voltage measurement.

Fixed charge in the oxide simply shifts the measured curve. A positive fixed charge at the oxide-
semiconductor interface shifts the flatband voltage by an amount which equals the charge divided by the
oxide capacitance. The shift reduces linearly as one reduces the position of the charge relative to the gate
electrode and becomes zero if the charge is located at the metal-oxide interface. A fixed charge is caused by
cv1.gif ions which are incorporated in the oxide during growth or deposition.
Fig. 6.6.2 Low frequency (quasi-static) and high frequency capacitance of an MOS capacitor. Shown The flatband voltage shift due to mobile charge is described by the same equation as that due to fixed
are, from top to bottom, the low frequency capacitance measured in the presence of ambient light (top charge. However the measured curves differ since a positive gate voltage causes mobile charge to move
curve), the low frequency capacitance measured in the dark, the high frequency capacitance measured away from the gate electrode, while a negative voltage attracts the charge towards the gate. This causes the
in the presence of ambient light and the high frequency capacitance measured in the dark (bottom curve to shift towards the applied voltage. One can recognize mobile charge by the hysteresis in the high
curve). All curves were measured from left to right. The MOS parameters are Na = 4 x 1015 cm-3 and frequency capacitance curve when sweeping the gate voltage back and forth. Sodium ions incorporated in the
oxide of silicon MOS capacitors are known to yield mobile charge. It is because of the high sensitivity of
tox = 80 nm. The device area is 0.0007 cm2
MOS structures to a variety of impurities that the industry carefully controls the purity of the water and the
chemicals used.
The figure illustrates some of the issues when measuring the capacitance of an MOS capacitance. First of all
one should measure the devices in the dark; the presence of light causes carrier generation in the capacitor Charge due to electrons occupying surface states also yields a shift in flatband voltage. However as the
which affects the measured capacitance. In addition one must avoid the deep depletion effects such as the applied voltage is varied, the fermi energy at the oxide-semiconductor interface changes also and affects the
initial linearly varying capacitance of the high frequency capacitance measured in the dark on the above occupancy of the surface states. The interface states cause the transition in the capacitance measurement to
figure (bottom curve). The larger the carrier lifetime, the slower the voltage is to be changed to avoid deep be less abrupt. The combination of the low frequency and high frequency capacitance allows to calculate the
depletion. surface state density. This method provides the surface state density over a limited (but highly relevant)
range of energies within the bandgap. Measurements on n-type and p-type capacitors at different
The low frequency measured is compared to the theorical value in the figure below. The high frequency temperatures provide the surface state density throughout the bandgap.
capacitance measured in the presence of light is also shown on the figure. The figure illustrates the
agreement between experiment and theory. A comparison of the experimental low (rather than high)
frequency capacitance with theory is somewhat easier to carry out since the theoretical expression is easier to 6.5 ¬ ® 6.7
calculate while the low frequency measurement tends to be less sensitive to deep depletion effects.
© Bart J. Van Zeghbroeck, 1996, 1997

cv2.gif

Fig. 6.6.3 Comparison of the theoretical low frequency capacitance (solid line) and the experimental
data (open squares) obtained in the dark. Also shown is the high frequency measurement in the