Method of improving the reliability of low-voltage programmable antifuse

摘要

The reliability of an antifuse can be increased and/or the thickness of the antifuse dielectric can be decreased by the use of a rapid thermal nitridation nitride layer as part of the antifuse dielectric. The RTN nitride layer is denser and has fewer pinholes than nitride layers formed by chemical vapor deposition. The rapid thermal nitridation also produces a good contact with a bottom electrode containing silicon as well as providing a nucleation layer for any additional nitride layer formed by chemical vapor deposition. Increasing the reliability of the antifuse dielectric allows it to be thinner, and thus allows for the programming of the dielectric layer at lower programming voltages.