Impact of cyclic plasma treatment on oxygen vacancy defects in TiN/HfZrO/SiON/Si gate stacks
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, New Jersey 07102 (United States)
- Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Heritage Institute of Technology, Kolkata (India)
- TEL Technology Center, America, LLC, NanoFab 300 South 255 Fuller Road, Suite 244, Albany, New York 12203 (United States)
This work evaluates the defects in HfZrO as a function of Zr addition into HfO{sub 2} and when the dielectric was subjected to a slot-plane-antenna (SPA) plasma treatment in a cyclic process to form TiN/HfZrO/SiON/Si gate stacks. The defect energy levels, estimated by temperature-dependent current-voltage measurements, suggest that Zr addition in HfO{sub 2} modifies the charge state of the oxygen vacancy formation, V{sup +}. The influence of electron affinity variation of Hf and Zr ions on the charged oxygen vacancy levels seems to have contributed to the increase in defect activation energy, E{sub a}, from 0.32 eV to 0.4 eV. The cyclic SPA plasma exposure further reduces the oxygen vacancy formation because of the film densification. When the dielectric was subjected to a constant voltage stress, the charge state oxygen vacancy formation changes to V{sup 2+} and improvement was eliminated. The trap assisted tunneling behavior, as observed by the stress induced leakage current characteristics, further supports the oxygen vacancy formation model.
- OSTI ID:
- 22399064
- Journal Information:
- Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 106, Issue 19; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Interface trap and oxide charge generation under negative bias temperature instability of p-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors with ultrathin plasma-nitrided SiON gate dielectrics
A thermalization energy analysis of the threshold voltage shift in amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide thin film transistors under simultaneous negative gate bias and illumination
Related Subjects
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
ACTIVATION ENERGY
CHARGE STATES
DIELECTRIC MATERIALS
ELECTRIC CONDUCTIVITY
ENERGY LEVELS
EV RANGE
FILMS
HAFNIUM OXIDES
LEAKAGE CURRENT
OXYGEN
PLASMA
STRESSES
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE
TITANIUM NITRIDES
TRAPS
TUNNEL EFFECT
VACANCIES
VANADIUM IONS
ZIRCONIUM IONS