TY - JOUR
T1 - Enhancement of electrical characteristics and reliability in crystallized ZrO 2 gate dielectrics treated with in-situ atomic layer doping of nitrogen
AU - Huang, Jhih Jie
AU - Huang, Li Tien
AU - Tsai, Meng Chen
AU - Lee, Min Hung
AU - Chen, Miin Jang
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was financially supported by the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and National Science Council in Taiwan under contract number NSC 102-2622-E-002-014 , and 102-2218-E-002-003 .
PY - 2014/6/30
Y1 - 2014/6/30
N2 - The crystallized ZrO 2 high-K gate dielectrics treated with in-situ atomic layer doping of nitrogen using remote N 2 and NH 3 plasma were investigated, to suppress the capacitance equivalent thickness (CET), leakage current density (J g ), and interfacial state density (D it ). The stress-induced leakage current (SILC) was reduced significantly as well. The tetragonal/cubic phase of ZrO 2 was formed by post metallization annealing at a low temperature of 450 °C to offer a high dielectric constant of the gate oxide. The in-situ atomic layer doping of nitrogen using the remote NH 3 plasma contributes to the deactivation of the oxygen vacancies and the well passivation of D it . Accordingly, a suppressed J g of 4.79 × 10 -5 A cm -2 and D it of 3.96 × 10 11 cm -2 eV -1 were realized in the crystallized ZrO 2 gate oxide with a low CET of 1.35 nm. The gate dielectrics were also optically examined by the photoluminescence from the high-K/Si interface, indicating that the D it is highly correlated with the hydrogen passivation originating from the remote NH 3 plasma. The results indicate that in-situ atomic layer doping of nitrogen is an applicable and effective technique to improve the electrical properties of crystallized gate dielectrics in the advanced metal-oxide-semiconductor devices.
AB - The crystallized ZrO 2 high-K gate dielectrics treated with in-situ atomic layer doping of nitrogen using remote N 2 and NH 3 plasma were investigated, to suppress the capacitance equivalent thickness (CET), leakage current density (J g ), and interfacial state density (D it ). The stress-induced leakage current (SILC) was reduced significantly as well. The tetragonal/cubic phase of ZrO 2 was formed by post metallization annealing at a low temperature of 450 °C to offer a high dielectric constant of the gate oxide. The in-situ atomic layer doping of nitrogen using the remote NH 3 plasma contributes to the deactivation of the oxygen vacancies and the well passivation of D it . Accordingly, a suppressed J g of 4.79 × 10 -5 A cm -2 and D it of 3.96 × 10 11 cm -2 eV -1 were realized in the crystallized ZrO 2 gate oxide with a low CET of 1.35 nm. The gate dielectrics were also optically examined by the photoluminescence from the high-K/Si interface, indicating that the D it is highly correlated with the hydrogen passivation originating from the remote NH 3 plasma. The results indicate that in-situ atomic layer doping of nitrogen is an applicable and effective technique to improve the electrical properties of crystallized gate dielectrics in the advanced metal-oxide-semiconductor devices.
KW - Atomic layer deposition
KW - High-K gate dielectrics
KW - In-situ atomic layer doping
KW - Remote plasma
KW - Zirconium oxide
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U2 - 10.1016/j.apsusc.2014.03.039
DO - 10.1016/j.apsusc.2014.03.039
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84899993001
SN - 0169-4332
VL - 305
SP - 214
EP - 220
JO - Applied Surface Science
JF - Applied Surface Science
ER -