Onefold coordinated oxygen atom: an electron trap in the silicon oxide
Abstract It has been long suggested that the SiOH defect is an electron or “water” trap in silicon dioxide based on some indirect evidences. In this work, quantum calculation on the capturing properties of non-bridging oxygen hole center with unpaired electron SiO and hydrogen defect SiOH in silicon oxide are performed with the ab initio density-functional method. It was found that the SiO defect is an electron trap and this defect should be the responsible candidate for better hardness against radiation for the metal–oxide-semiconductor gate oxide produced by wet oxidation. We found that the SiOH defect could not be an electron trap according to the present calculation results.