Characterization of Atomic Layer Deposition using X-Ray Reflectometry
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD (United States)
- Department of Applied Physics, University of Technology at Sydney, Broadway, NSW (Australia)
- SEMATECH, Austin, TX (United States)
This work addresses current limitations of X-ray reflectometry (XRR) for modeling thin films and provides a basis for their improvement. Better accuracy in the characterization of novel thin film structures requires better model selection techniques and better knowledge of the theoretical limitations of current XRR analysis techniques. We use hafnium dioxide (HfO2) nanoscale ({approx_equal} 1 nm) thin films deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD) to study the limitations of current techniques. These structures are of strategic importance as CMOS gate and barrier materials. We show that XRR modeling--for our measured data range and counting statistics - will fail for thicknesses less than 1 nm. We also show that a two-layer model (HfO2/SiOxHfy/Si substrate) is more plausible than a one-layer model (HfO2/Si substrate) for the measured data.
- OSTI ID:
- 20719258
- Journal Information:
- AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 788, Issue 1; Conference: 2005 international conference on characterization and metrology for ULSI technology, Richardson, TX (United States), 15-18 Mar 2005; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.2062956; (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-243X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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