It has been observed by several authors that metal-oxide-semiconductor devices with polycrystalline Si (polySi) gates behave differently depending on the doping species in polySi: the work-function difference between the silicon substrate and the gate (øps ) is higher when the gates are doped with arsenic than when they are doped with phosphorus.

We believe that the different behavior of øps . can be explained by different grain textures at the polySi/SiO2 interface. Our transmission electron microscoey of the films indicates that while P-doped material consists of large (≈3000Å) grains, As-doped polySi preserves its as-deposited columnar structure – even after a high temperature anneal. Moreover, at the interface with the gate oxide an as-deposited microstructure with very small (≈100Å) “embrionic” grains is preserved. On the basis of these observations, we suggest a model for the different behavior of ø ps . The model is based on a quantum-size effect which becomes important for such small grain dimensions at the interface in As-doped polySi. This effect drastically reduces the number of states available in the conduction band at low energies. The resulting shift of the Fermi level provides a qualitative explanation for the observed puzzling difference between the work-functions of Asand P- doped polySi.