Electrical diagnostic technique for silicon plasma-etch induced damage characterization

An integrated circuit chip comprising:

• a plasma-etch effect test device for detecting and characterizing plasma-etch induced damage in an integrated circuit including:
• a semiconductor substrate having a substrate conductivity doping, the semiconductor substrate including a test device active region;
• a thick field oxide region isolating the test device active region and abutting the semiconductor substrate with the substrate conductivity doping;
• a thin silicon dioxide layer overlying the semiconductor substrate in the test device active region;
• and
• a diode region having a diode conductivity opposite to the substrate conductivity, the diode region being fully contained within the test device active region so that the thick field oxide region abuts the semiconductor substrate, the diode region with the diode conductivity being accessible to a first test terminal across the thin silicon dioxide layer, the first test terminal extending to the thin silicon dioxide layer completely overlying the diode region, and the test device active region outside the diode conductivity region being accessible to a second test terminal across the thin silicon dioxide layer, the first and second test terminals for measuring electrical parameters indicative of plasma-etch effects.

An electronic system including:

• a microprocessor;
• a memory;
• a system bus;
• and
• an integrated circuit including a plasma-etch effect test device for detecting and characterizing plasma-etch induced damage in an integrated circuit including:
• a semiconductor substrate having a substrate conductivity doping, the semiconductor substrate including a test device active region;
• a thick field oxide region isolating the test device active region and abutting the semiconductor substrate with the substrate conductivity doping;
• a thin silicon dioxide layer overlying the semiconductor substrate in the test device active region;
• and
• a diode region having a diode conductivity opposite to the substrate conductivity, the diode region being fully contained within the test device active region so that the thick field oxide region abuts the semiconductor substrate, the diode region with the diode conductivity being accessible to a first test terminal across the thin silicon dioxide layer, the first test terminal extending to the thin silicon dioxide layer completely overlying the diode region, and the test device active region outside the diode conductivity region being accessible to a second test terminal across the thin silicon dioxide layer, the first and second test terminals for measuring electrical parameters indicative of plasma-etch effects.

An integrated circuit comprising:

• a test device for detecting and characterizing plasma-etch induced damage in the integrated circuit including:
• a semiconductor substrate including an active device region;
• a silicon dioxide layer overlying the semiconductor substrate, the silicon dioxide layer having a thin silicon dioxide portion overlying the active device region and a thick field oxide layer in a field region surrounding and isolating the active device region;
• a diode region having a conductivity opposite to a semiconductor substrate conductivity, the diode region being contained within the active region and separated from the thick field oxide layer by the active region;
• an isolating layer directly overlying the silicon dioxide layer in the test device active region, the isolating layer having a first via extending through the isolating layer to the thin silicon dioxide portion adjacent the opposite-conductivity diode region and having a second via extending through the isolating layer to the thin silicon dioxide portion adjacent the active region;
• and
• a contact layer including a first contact contained within the first via and contacting the thin silicon dioxide portion adjacent the opposite-conductivity diode region, and a second contact contained within the second via and contacting the thin silicon dioxide portion adjacent the active region.