Leakage currents and dielectric breakdown were studied in MIS capacitors of metal-aluminum oxide-silicon. The aluminum oxide was produced by thermally oxidizing AlN at 800-1100 C under dry O 2 conditions. The AlN films were deposited by RF magnetron sputtering on p-type Si (100) substrates. Thermal oxidation produced Al 2 O 3 with a thickness and structure that depended on the process time and temperature. The MIS capacitors exhibited the charge regimes of accumulation, depletion, and inversion on the Si semiconductor surface. The best electrical properties were obtained when all of the AlN was fully oxidized to Al 2 O 3 with no residual AlN. The MIS flatband voltage was near 0 V, the net oxide trapped charge density, ox , was less than 10 11 cm 2 , and the interface trap density, , was less than 10 11 cm 2 eV 1 . At an oxide electric field of 0.3 MV/cm, the leakage current density was less than 10 7 A cm 2 , with a resistivity greater than 10 12 -cm. The critical field for dielectric breakdown ranged from 4 to 5 MV/cm. The temperature dependence of the current versus electric field indicated that the conduction mechanism was Frenkel-Poole emission, which has the interesting property that higher temperatures reduce the current. This may be important for the reliability of circuits operating under extreme conditions. The dielectric constant ranged from 3 to 9. The excellent electronic quality of aluminum oxide may be attractive for field effect transistor applications.
The AlGaInN semiconductor system is currently of high interest for applications in blue light emitting devices. AlInN is a prospective material for lattice matched confinement layers. We measure the refractive index as well as the band gap across the entire compositional range of high-quality polycrystalline AlInN samples. Strong band gap bowing is observed.
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A comparative study of reactively-ion-sputtered (RIS) and low pressure chemical-vapor-deposited (LPCVD) TiN, and sputter-deposited TaN thin films as diffusion barriers for Cu has been done using Auger electron spectroscopy, Rutherford backscattering spectrometry, x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and sheet resistance measurements. For the RIS TiN and sputtered TaN diffusion barriers, the integrity of the individual layers was preserved and there was no evidence of interdiffusion for samples annealed up to 500 °C in N2–H2 ambient for 1 hour. The LPCVD TiN was stable up to 450 °C for 30 minutes only, after which Cu started to diffuse into the TiN layer. The reasons for the higher thermal stability of RIS TiN compared to LPCVD TiN can be deduced from the microstructural differences in the two films, as observed with x-ray diffraction technique.
Using x-ray diffraction, Rutherford backscattering spectrometry, Auger electron spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy, effects of ambient anneal and Pt thickness on the interdiffusion of Pt/Ti bilayers deposited on SiO2/Si and on reactively sputtered TiN/Ti/Si substrates have been investigated. The Pt layer was 2000 or 930 Å thick while the Ti thickness was fixed at 1000 Å. The wafers were annealed in either O2 or N2 ambients or in N2 followed by O2, with temperatures ranging from 600 to 800 °C for 30 min. The anneal ambients and the thickness of Pt relative to the Ti layer had tremendous effects on the interdiffusion processes, the reaction products, and the surface morphology of the multilayer structures. Samples annealed in O2 were generally rough, with bumps of the order of 1000 Å, while those annealed in N2 were relatively smooth. With lead zirconium titanate on top, the surface of Pt/Ti electrode annealed in O2 at 650 °C was relatively smooth.
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