Ultra-thin high-k dielectric films have attracted world-wide interest for DRAM capacitor or gate dielectric applications. Defect states in high-k dielectric are responsible for leakage current or mobility degradation due to remote Coulomb scattering. Hence there is a need to develop a technology to detect those defect states. We have successfully developed a novel zero-bias thermally stimulated current (ZBTSC) spectroscopy technique which is applicable to capacitors with sub-10 nm high-k dielectric. Tantalum oxide was used as an example to demonstrate the value of this technique. The ZBTSC technique can be further improved by migration to zero-temperature-gradient ZBTSC (ZTGZBTSC).

Thin films of cubic boron nitride (c-BN) together with hexagonal one (h-BN) have been prepared by using the ion beam deposition method (IBD). Boron was deposited onto silicon wafers by a sputtering beam of 600 eV argon ions, and the growing films were simultaneously irradiated by nitrogen ions at 200 eV. The films were subsequently characterized by infrared absorption (IR) spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and microhardness measurements. The IR spectra show the evidence of BN layer formation by the absorption peaks at about 1350, 1120 and 810 cm−1, which are in good agreement with those of bulk BN.