Lifetime projections and conduction mechanisms for Hafnium based high-k capacitor dielectrics using low thermal budget process

For the first time, we evaluated the long-term lifetime for Hafnium based high-k dielectrics such as HfO₂ and HfO₂-Al₂O₃ laminates at 25· · and 125· · in capacitor applications. The extracted Weibull slope of HfO₂ T_BD distribution shows thickness dependence to be explained by percolation theory. We demonstrate that elevated operation temperature further accelerates HfO₂ breakdown than HfO₂-Al₂O₃ laminates, resulting from severe temperature dependent leakage currents due to different conduction mechanisms.