Method of reducing hot-electron degradation in semi-conductor devices

摘要

A method of reducing the degradation effects associated with avalanche injection or tunnelling of hot-electrons in a field-effect semiconductor device is disclosed and includes covering the active regions of the semiconductor device with a protective titanium based barrier layer (19) which is deposited directly underneath the ordinary metalization layers (20) used for connecting the devices to bit and word lines within an array. Inclusion of the titanium based barrier layer in a flash memory device results in a substantial improvement in the erasetime push-out and reduces excess charge loss normally associated with hot-electron devices. The titanium based layer can be of titanium, titanium nitride, and titanium tungsten.