Impact of morphological defects on the electrical breakdown of ultra thin atomic layer deposition processed Al2O3 layers

Spahr, Holger; Bülow, Tim; Nowak, Christine; Hirschberg, Felix; Reinker, Johannes; Hamwi, Sami; Johannes, Hans‐Hermann; Kowalsky, Wolfgang

doi:10.1016/j.tsf.2013.02.076

Cited by 12 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Breakdown studies regarding the ALD processed Al 2 O 3 with observation of FN-tunneling and high leakage current at low oxide thicknesses resulting in an increase of the breakdown electrical field was first described by Lin et al 21 Consistent observations in the increase of the breakdown electrical field towards lower thicknesses combined with an increase of the morphological defects, which are referred to as extrinsic defects consisting of layer impurities, are reported in a previous publication of our group. 22 …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conduction mechanisms in thin atomic layer deposited Al2O3 layers

Spahr

Montzka

Reinker

et al. 2013

Journal of Applied Physics

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Current conduction mechanisms in atomic-layer-deposited HfO 2 / nitrided SiO 2 stacked gate on 4H silicon carbide Thin Al 2 O 3 layers of 2-135 nm thickness deposited by thermal atomic layer deposition at 80 C were characterized regarding the current limiting mechanisms by increasing voltage ramp stress. By analyzing the j(U)-characteristics regarding ohmic injection, space charge limited current (SCLC), Schottky-emission, Fowler-Nordheim-tunneling, and Poole-Frenkel-emission, the limiting mechanisms were identified. This was performed by rearranging and plotting the data in a linear scale, such as Schottky-plot, Poole-Frenkel-plot, and Fowler-Nordheim-plot. Linear regression then was applied to the data to extract the values of relative permittivity from Schottky-plot slope and Poole-Frenkel-plot slope. From Fowler-Nordheim-plot slope, the Fowler-Nordheim-energy-barrier was extracted. Example measurements in addition to a statistical overview of the results of all investigated samples are provided. Linear regression was applied to the region of the data that matches the realistic values most. It is concluded that ohmic injection and therefore SCLC only occurs at thicknesses below 12 nm and that the Poole-Frenkel-effect is no significant current limiting process. The extracted Fowler-Nordheim-barriers vary in the range of up to approximately 4 eV but do not show a specific trend. It is discussed whether the negative slope in the Fowler-Nordheim-plot could in some cases be a misinterpreted trap filled limit in the case of space charge limited current. V C 2013 AIP Publishing LLC. [http://dx.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conduction mechanisms in thin atomic layer deposited Al2O3 layers

Spahr

Montzka

Reinker

et al. 2013

Journal of Applied Physics

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“…Moreover, the gate leakage current density-voltage ( J-V ) characteristics show different breakdown behaviors, which suggests that the incorporation of La 2 O 3 interfacial passivation layer improves the breakdown field strength of HfO 2 /Ge MIS capacitors. The improvement of the breakdown field strength is reported to be associated with a reduction in defects in gate dielectrics [35]. As mentioned above, the existence of La 2 O 3 interfacial passivation layer could effectively suppress the generation of structural defects, oxygen vacancies and dangling bonds.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electrical Properties and Interfacial Issues of HfO2/Ge MIS Capacitors Characterized by the Thickness of La2O3 Interlayer

et al. 2019

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Effects of the La2O3 passivation layer thickness on the interfacial properties of high-k/Ge interface are investigated systematically. In a very thin range (0~15 cycles), the increase of La2O3 passivation layer deposition cycles improves the surface smoothness of HfO2/Ge structures. The capacitance-voltage (C-V) characteristics show that the thickness of La2O3 passivation layer can affect the shift of flat band voltage (VFB), hysteretic behaviors, and the shapes of the dual-swept C-V curves. Moreover, significant improvements in the gate leakage current and breakdown characteristics are also achieved with the increase of La2O3 interlayer thickness.

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“…Furthermore, it is worth noting that the gate insulator breakdown electric field of capacitor S2 (~7.07 MV/cm) was apparently higher than that of capacitor S1 (~5.86 MV/cm), which revealed that the inserted La 2 O 3 passivation layer had a positive effect on the breakdown characteristics of the gate insulators. The improvements in gate leakage current density and gate insulator breakdown characteristics were suspected to benefit from the reduction of structural defects including dangling bonds and oxygen vacancies [37]. For the sample with a La 2 O 3 passivation layer, less structural defects in the gate insulator meant a smaller possibility of creating a continuous chain connecting the gate electrode to the substrate semiconductor, contributing to the realization of lower gate leakage current density and higher insulator breakdown electric field [38].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improvements on the Interfacial Properties of High-k/Ge MIS Structures by Inserting a La2O3 Passivation Layer

et al. 2018

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In this paper, the impact of La2O3 passivation layers on the interfacial properties of Ge-based metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) structures was investigated. It was proven that the formation of a thermodynamically stable LaGeOx component by incorporating a La2O3 interlayer could effectively suppress desorption of the interfacial layer from GeO2 to volatile GeO. The suppression of GeO desorption contributed to the decrease in oxide trapped charges and interfacial traps in the bulk of the gate insulator, or the nearby interfacial regions in the Al2O3/La2O3/Ge structure. Consequently, the hysteretic behavior of the dual-swept capacitance-voltage (C-V) curves and the frequency dispersion of multi-frequency C-V curves were remarkably weakened. Besides, more than one order of magnitude decrease in the gate leakage current density, and higher insulator breakdown electric field were obtained after inserting a La2O3 passivation layer.

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Impact of morphological defects on the electrical breakdown of ultra thin atomic layer deposition processed Al2O3 layers

Cited by 12 publications

References 16 publications

Conduction mechanisms in thin atomic layer deposited Al2O3 layers

Conduction mechanisms in thin atomic layer deposited Al2O3 layers

Electrical Properties and Interfacial Issues of HfO2/Ge MIS Capacitors Characterized by the Thickness of La2O3 Interlayer

Improvements on the Interfacial Properties of High-k/Ge MIS Structures by Inserting a La2O3 Passivation Layer

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