In this report, the results of a systematic study on the effects of polycrystalline silicon gate depletion on the reliability characteristics of metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) devices were discussed. The devices were fabricated using standard complimentary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) processes, wherein phosphorus ion implantation with implant doses varying from 1013 to 5×1015 cm-2 was performed to dope the polycrystalline silicon gate layer. For implant doses of 1014/㎠ or less, the threshold voltage was increased with the formation of a depletion layer in the polycrystalline silicon gate layer. The gate-depletion effect was more pronounced for shorter channel lengths, like the narrow-width effect, which indicated that the gate-depletion effect could be used to solve the short-channel effect. In addition, the hot-carrier effects were significantly reduced for implant doses of 1014/㎠ or less, which was attributed to the decreased gate current under the gate-depletion effects.
