We have investigated the in-situ N2-plasma nitridation for high-k HfN gate insulator formed by electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) plasma sputtering to improve the electrical characteristics. It was found that the increase of nitridation gas pressure for the deposited HfN1.1 gate insulator, such as 98 mPa, decreased both the hysteresis width in C-V characteristics and leakage current. Furthermore, the 2-step nitiridation process with the nitridation gas pressure of 26 mPa followed by the nitridation at 98 mPa realized the decrease of equivalent oxide thickness (EOT) to 0.9 nm with decreasing the hysteresis width and leakage current. The fabricated metal-insulator-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MISFET) with 2-step nitridation showed a steep subthreshold swing of 87 mV/dec.

In this paper, we briefly describe situations that may cause HFN de-synchronization for ciphering applications in UMTS. Detection methods of HFN de-synchronization are discussed and the lower bound of the HFN de-synchronization perceptibility is derived. A supporting simulation result of the perceptibility is given. Then, an Automatic Recovery of HFN Synchronization (ARHS) algorithm is presented. The average lost PDU number of the ARHS algorithm is derived and supported by simulation results. The average lost SDU number is used as the figure of merit for HFN synchronization recovery procedures. Simulation results of the average lost SDU number show that the ARHS algorithm is quite effective to recover HFN synchronization after HFN de-synchronization situations happen.