Effects of postannealing on the bulk and interfacial characteristics of ZrO2 gate dielectrics prepared on Si by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition

[[abstract]]This work investigates the effects of postannealing on the bulk and interfacial characteristics of ultrathin ZrO2 films on Si substrates. The films were prepared by metalorganic chemical-vapor deposition and were subsequently annealed in N2 or O2 ambient at 500-900 °C. Partial crystallization of the ZrO2 film and growth of an interfacial layer (IL) were found by the increase of the annealing temperature. The IL is mainly composed of Zr-silicate for annealing in N2, but it is mostly SiO2 for annealing in O2. The annealing also effectively reduces the oxide trapped-charge density in ZrO2, as demonstrated by the reduction of hysteresis in the capacitance-voltage relation, but not for the specimen annealed in O2 at 900 °C, in which excessive oxygen diffused into the film and IL was found. Lower leakage current from substrate injection in association with the reduction of depletion layer, which provides less generation current, was found due to the growth of Zr-silicate IL in N2 annealing, but the leakage from gate injection increased in conjunction with the crystallization of the ZrO2 layer. In contrast, the relatively thick SiO2 IL formed in O2 annealing reduces the leakage for both substrate and gate injection. There is also a significant shift of the turn-around voltage in the current-voltage relation with voltage swept from inversion to accumulation, but not with voltage swept back.[[fileno]]2020326010030[[department]]材料科學工程學