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HfO 2 films deposited via tetrakis diethylamido hafnium ͑TDEAH͒ precursor using MOCVD ͑metal organic chemical vapor deposition͒ are presented. TDEAH is a promising precursor candidate for the deposition of high permittivity gate dielectrics. We report the impact of process and annealing conditions on the physical and electrical properties of the film. Deposition and annealing temperatures influence the microstructure, density, and impurity levels of TDEAH HfO 2 films. Spectroscopic ellipsometry shows that film microstructure manifests itself in the optical properties of the film, particularly in the presence of a band edge related feature at 5.8 eV. An impurity analysis using Auger electron spectroscopy, secondary ion mass spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy, indicates that carbon impurities from the precursor exist as clusters within the HfO 2 dielectric. The impact of deposition temperature and annealing temperature on the capacitance vs. voltage and current density vs. voltage characteristics of platinum gated capacitors is studied. Correlation of physical film properties with the capacitance and leakage behavior of the TDEAH HfO 2 films indicates that impurities, in the form of carbon clusters, and low HfO 2 film density are detrimental to the electrical performance of the gate dielectric.As the smallest feature size on a microprocessor approaches 50 nm, the primary dielectric layer in the field effect transistor, referred to as the gate dielectric or gate oxide, will thin to below 15 Å. Around this thickness, electrical leakage current through the dielectric becomes excessive and is expected to cause problems due to either high power dissipation or circuit reliability. 1 One solution to this problem is to replace SiO 2 dielectrics with higher permittivity dielectrics. A higher permittivity dielectric can be thicker and still achieve the same capacitance as a thinner SiO 2 dielectric. The starting point for identifying possible replacements for SiO 2 dielectrics is to evaluate their thermal stability in direct contact with silicon. Reactions between the high permittivity dielectric and the silicon substrate or electrode are undesirable. Extensive thermodynamic calculations have been performed by Hubbard and Schlom, 2 identifying numerous binary and ternary oxides that are candidate materials. Some of the binary oxides that are leading contenders for replacing SiO 2 include: ZrO 2 , HfO 2 , Y 2 O 3 , and Al 2 O 3 . In addition, there are numerous ternary ͑or mixed͒ oxides that have also been predicted, or experimentally determined, to be stable in contact with silicon.In general, the class IIIB and IVB oxides tend to be the most thermodynamically stable oxides for potential use in integrated circuit manufacturing. Doping the IIIB and IVB oxides with Al 2 O 3 or SiO 2 increases the crystallization temperature. Such amorphous dielectrics are desirable because grain boundaries enhance diffusion of dopants from the electrode to the substrate and possibly contribute to electrical leakage. On the other hand, doping...

Scaling of metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) transistors to smaller dimensions has been a key driving force in the IC industry. As we approach the sub-quarter micron regime, a whole new set of problems regarding the device performance arises. One of the major concerns is the high gate leakage current. To address this problem, a lot of effort has been concentrated on the use of the so-called "high-K dielectrics" as gate insulators. However, the implications of using these materials on the electrical performance of MOS devices need to be studied. This work is an effort towards the same. There has also been a lot of discussion about the trade-offs related to the use of retrograde channel profiles in deep sub-micron transistors. It is also shown in this work that a retrograde profile can be optimized to have an advantage over uniform doping.

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