Electric-field-driven dielectric breakdown of metal-insulator-metal hafnium silicate

Lee, Byoung Hun; Kang, Chang Yong; Kirsch, P. D.; Heh, D.; Young, Chadwin D.; Park, Hongbae; Yang, Ji-Woon; Bersuker, G.; Krishnan, Siddarth; Choi, Rino; Lee, Hi Deok

doi:10.1063/1.2825288

Cited by 28 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Dielectric breakdown has been extensively studied in a wide range of metal-oxide-semiconductor [1,2] and metalinsulator-metal (MIM) structures [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. More recently, it has received attention in relation to resistive random-access memory devices (RRAM), where an electroforming step is usually required to initiate resistive switching [11][12][13][14][15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Electrode Roughness on Electroforming inHfO2and Defect-Induced Moderation of Electric-Field Enhancement

et al. 2015

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The roughness of Pt electrodes is shown to have a direct impact on the electroforming characteristics of Pt=Ti=HfO 2 =Pt device structures. Specifically, an increase in roughness leads to a reduction in the electroforming voltage of HfO 2 , an increase in the failure rate of devices, and a corresponding reduction in resistive switching reliability. A finite-element model is used to investigate the significance of local electricfield enhancement on the breakdown process. This simulation shows that high-aspect-ratio asperities can produce field enhancements of more than an order of magnitude but that the generation and redistribution of defects moderate this effect prior to dielectric breakdown. As a consequence, the effect of field enhancement is less than anticipated from the initial electric-field distribution alone. Finally, it is argued that the increase in the device failure rate with increasing electrode roughness derives partly from an increase in the film defect density and effective device area and that these effects contribute to the reduction in breakdown voltage.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Electrode Roughness on Electroforming inHfO2and Defect-Induced Moderation of Electric-Field Enhancement

et al. 2015

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“…As the applied electric field is increasing beyond 3.3 MV/cm, the positive oxide-trapped charges Q ot + are built up and the net polarity of the oxide-trapped charges are positive hereafter. 15,16 The higher FAP implies the higher damage done with the dielectric during the electrical stress. Furthermore, based on our simulation results ͑not shown͒, the temperature rise is around 35.7°C that the effects of self-heating is insignificant.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of breakdown characteristics in high-k dielectrics under electrostatic discharge impulse stress

Chen

Liao

Chiu

et al. 2010

Journal of Applied Physics

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Articles you may be interested inAdvanced high-k dielectric amorphous LaGdO3 based high density metal-insulator-metal capacitors with subnanometer capacitance equivalent thickness Appl. Phys. Lett. 102, 252905 (2013); 10.1063/1.4812670 Low temperature growth of high-k Hf-La oxides by remote-plasma atomic layer deposition: Morphology, stoichiometry, and dielectric properties J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 30, 01A147 (2012); 10.1116/1.3665419Breakdown voltage of ultrathin dielectric film subject to electrostatic discharge stress A strong analogy between the dielectric breakdown of high-K gate stacks and the progressive breakdown of ultrathin oxides Transmission line pulse measurements were used to investigate the reliability of the HfO 2 dielectric under an electrostatic discharge event. Time-dependent dielectric breakdown of the gate oxide was characterized down to the microsecond time regime. The positive oxide-trapped charges Q ot + were observed beyond a certain electric field and the corresponding centroid evolution was examined. In the high-field stress regime, the field acceleration parameter of the HfO 2 dielectric is smaller than that of the silicon oxynitride. We also demonstrated this phenomenon can be attributed to the stronger phonon-assisted tunneling process in the high-k dielectrics.

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“…In their work, a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) structure was used to study the breakdown mechanism of a single layer of HfO 2 and Hfsilicate without interfering with an interfacial SiO 2 layer. The typical field dependence of thick SiO 2 gate dielectric was ~0.93 decade/(MV/cm) while that of MIM Hf-silicate was 2.04 decade/(MV/cm) [29]. The electric field dependence in MIM HfSiO x capacitor more than two times stronger than that of SiO 2 indicates that the breakdown process of high-k dielectric layer itself is strongly influenced by the electric field rather than the charge fluence like in SiO 2 layer.…”

Section: Key Models For the Intrinsic Reliabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Dielectric Breakdown Characteristics of Stacked High-k Dielectrics

Lee

Choi

2009

ECS Trans.

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Dielectric breakdown characteristics of high-k dielectric have been intensively studied to develop a lifetime extrapolation model for device with metal/high-k gate stacks. Majority of prior works treated the high-k dielectric as a single layer dielectric like thermally grown SiO2 while the actual structure of high-k dielectric consists of two layers (high-k layer stacked on interfacial SiO2 like interfacial layer). And, the results of reliability test were interpreted using the model developed for SiO2. In the previous works, the potential limit of such approach has been pointed out; 1) severe electric field distortion due to transient charging in high-k dielectric during the stress, 2) excessive electrical stress applied to the interfacial layer. Thus, it was suggested that the extrapolation method using high field stress may not be correct for high-k dielectric. In this paper, several breakdown models suggested for high-k dielectric will be reviewed and compared to provide a comprehensive understanding on the current knowledge and challenges in this area.

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Electric-field-driven dielectric breakdown of metal-insulator-metal hafnium silicate

Cited by 28 publications

References 9 publications

Effect of Electrode Roughness on Electroforming inHfO2and Defect-Induced Moderation of Electric-Field Enhancement

Effect of Electrode Roughness on Electroforming inHfO2and Defect-Induced Moderation of Electric-Field Enhancement

Analysis of breakdown characteristics in high-k dielectrics under electrostatic discharge impulse stress

Dielectric Breakdown Characteristics of Stacked High-k Dielectrics

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