Three-Dimensional Imaging of Individual Hafnium Atoms Inside a Semiconductor Device

Journal Article · Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2005 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1991989· OSTI ID:978019

van Benthem, Klaus ^[1]; Lupini, Andrew R ^[1]; Kim, Miyoung ^[2]; Baik, Hion Suck ^[2]; Doh, SeokJoo ^[3]; Lee, Jong-Hoo ^[3]; Oxley, Mark P ^[1]; Findlay, Scott D. ^[4]; Luck, Julia T ^[1]; Pennycook, Stephen J ^[1]

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1. ORNL
2. Samsung Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Korea
3. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. Korea
4. University of Melbourne, Australia

The aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscope allows probes to be formed with less than 1-{angstrom} diameter, providing sufficient sensitivity to observe individual Hf atoms within the SiO{sub 2} passivating layer of a HfO{sub 2}/SiO{sub 2}/Si alternative gate dielectric stack. Furthermore, the depth resolution is sufficient to localize the atom positions to half-nanometer precision in the third dimension. From a through-focal series of images, we demonstrate a three-dimensional reconstruction of the Hf atom sites, representing a three-dimensional map of potential breakdown sites within the gate dielectric.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC)
• DOE Contract Number: DE-AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 978019
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 87, Issue 3; ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
ACCURACY
ATOMS
BREAKDOWN
DIELECTRIC MATERIALS
ELECTRON MICROSCOPES
HAFNIUM
PROBES
RESOLUTION
SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES
SENSITIVITY