Ultraviolet-assisted oxidation and nitridation of hafnium and hafnium aluminum alloys as potential gate dielectrics for metal oxide semiconductor applications

The continued miniaturization of silicon-based complimentary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) devices is pushing the limits of the silicon dioxide (SiO2) gate dielectric. As the channel widths are decreased to increase packing densities and functionality of new chips, proportional vertical scaling of the dielectric must be maintained to keep constant capacitances. Silicon dioxide is approaching its fundamental limit in which it can be used as the gate dielectric due to high leakage currents resulting from direct tunneling through the layer. In order for the continued use of current CMOS gate design, an alternative material with a higher dielectric constant must be found. Several materials have been proposed but are still not providing the electrical characteristics favorable for use in the devices due to problems with excessive leakage and hysteresis resulting from the quality of the film and oxygen defects.; The goal of this study is to create higher quality films at lower processing temperatures with low leakage and less hysteresis than has been achieved with hafnium oxide films. This study first examines the formation of the interfacial layer in pulsed laser deposited hafnium oxide films to understand the kinetics behind its formation. The second section focuses on the oxidation of pulsed laser deposited (PLD) hafnium metal thin films using ultraviolet (UV) assisted post-deposition annealing. Another set of samples was deposited in an ammonia atmosphere in order to incorporate nitrogen into the films. Comparisons of microstructure and stoichiometry of oxidized hafnium and oxy-nitride films were made using x-ray photospectroscopy, variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometry, glancing angle x-ray spectroscopy, x-ray reflectivity, and atomic force microscopy. Analysis of the interface between the films and the silicon substrate was carried out using x-ray reflectivity. The electrical characteristics of the films were characterized using capacitance-voltage and current-voltage measurements in order to compare the quality of the films. Ultimately a model of the effect of UV and nitrogen additions was presented. In the final portion of this work, additions of aluminum were used to increase the crystallization temperature of the films. The effect of aluminum both with and without nitrogen incorporation on the dielectric constant and leakage for the films was studied.