Articles you may be interested inEngineering crystallinity of atomic layer deposited gate stacks containing ultrathin HfO2 and a Ti-based metal gate: Effects of postmetal gate anneal and integration schemes J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 32, 03D122 (2014); 10.1116/1.4869162 Oxygen passivation of vacancy defects in metal-nitride gated HfO 2 / SiO 2 / Si devices Appl. Phys. Lett. 95, 042901 (2009); 10.1063/1.3186075
Stability of HfO 2 / SiO x / Si surficial films at ultralow oxygen activityWe report on the stability of high-permittivity ͑high-k͒ TiO 2 films incorporated in metal-oxide-silicon capacitor structures with a TiN metal gate electrode, focusing on oxygen migration. Titanium oxide films are deposited by either Ti sputtering ͓physical vapor deposition ͑PVD͔͒ followed by radical shower oxidation or by plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition ͑PEALD͒ from titanium isopropoxide ͑Ti͕OCH͑CH 3 ͒ 2 ͖ 4 ͒ and O 2 plasma. Both PVD and PEALD films result in near-stoichiometric TiO 2 prior to high-temperature annealing. We find that dopant activation anneals of TiO 2 -containing gate stacks at 1000°C cause 5 Å or more of additional SiO 2 to be formed at the gate-dielectric/Si-channel interface. Furthermore, we demonstrate for the first time that oxygen released from TiO 2 diffuses through the TiN gate electrode and oxidizes the poly-Si contact. The thickness of this upper SiO 2 layer continues to increase with increasing TiO 2 thickness, while the thickness of the regrown SiO 2 at the gate-dielectric/Si interface saturates. The upper SiO 2 layer degrades gate stack capacitance, and simultaneously the oxygen-deficient TiO x becomes a poor insulator. In an attempt to mitigate O loss from the TiO 2 , top and bottom Al 2 O 3 layers are added to the TiO 2 gate dielectric as oxygen barriers. However, they are found to be ineffective, due to Al 2 O 3 -TiO 2 interdiffusion during activation annealing. Bottom HfO 2 / Si 3 N 4 interlayers are found to serve as more effective oxygen barriers, reducing, though not preventing, oxygen downdiffusion.