PROCESS FOR PRODUCING A SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE HAVING AN INSULATING LAYER OF SILICON DIOXIDE COVERED BY A FILM OF SILICON OXYNITRIDE

摘要

A semiconductor device may include an insulating film (12) as a gate insulation film of a MISFET, a dielectric of a capacitor, a passivation film, and as a mask for selectively forming its circuit elements. According to this invention an insulating film (12) in a semiconductor device is formed by nitriding at least a surface portion (15) of a silicon dioxide film (12). The nitrided silicon dioxide film is more dense than a silicon nitride film deposited from the vapour phase and, in addition, no sharp interface is formed between the nitride layer and the dioxide layer so that the number of recombination centres is reduced.