Can praseodymium oxide be an alternative high-K gate dielectric material for silicon integrated circuits?

Author

Mussig, H.-J. ; Osten, H.J. ; Bugiel, E. ; Dabrowski, J. ; Fissel, A. ; Guminskaya, T. ; Ignatovich, K. ; Liu, J.P. ; Zaumseil, P. ; Zavodinsky, V.

Author_Institution

IHP, Frankfurt, Germany

fYear

2001

fDate

2001

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

10

Abstract

We show that crystalline praseodymium oxide films can be grown on silicon (001). Such films have outstanding dielectric properties, displaying a dielectric constant of around 30 independent of substrate doping, very low leakage current density of 5×10^-9 A/cm ² at V_g=±1.0 V @ T_EOT=1.4 nm, good reliability, and reversible electrical breakdown. We report on the structure and stability of thin praseodymium oxide layers on Si(001) by combining scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES). We present experimental evidence and theoretical explanation based on ab initio pseudopotential simulations for the formation of oxygen-rich interfacial layer between the oxide and silicon

Keywords

Auger electron spectra; CMOS integrated circuits; X-ray photoelectron spectra; ab initio calculations; dielectric thin films; electric breakdown; elemental semiconductors; integrated circuit reliability; permittivity; praseodymium compounds; pseudopotential methods; scanning tunnelling microscopy; silicon; AES; Auger electron spectroscopy; CMOS; Pr₂O₃; STM; Si; Si(001); X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy; XPS; ab initio pseudopotential simulations; alternative high-K gate dielectric material; dielectric constant; integrated circuits; reliability; reversible electrical breakdown; scanning tunneling microscopy; Crystallization; Dielectric breakdown; Dielectric constant; Dielectric films; Dielectric substrates; Doping; Leakage current; Semiconductor films; Silicon; Spectroscopy;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Integrated Reliability Workshop Final Report, 2001. 2001 IEEE International

Conference_Location

Lake Tahoe, CA

Print_ISBN

0-7803-7167-4

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/.2001.993908

Filename

993908