Dielectric Films for Ge Planar Devices

A series of passivating and masking films was developed and evaluated for use in a Ge planar transistor technology. In the search for satisfactory films, silicon dioxide, aluminum oxide, silicon nitride and multilayer combinations of these films, as well as some doped and mixed-composition films, were studied. The films, formed by pyrolytic deposition or by sputtering, were evaluated and compared with respect to the following properties: etch rate; dopant masking; mechanical stress; oxygen, hydrogen and water permeability; stability with respect to elevated temperature electrical-bias stressing; and Ge-insulator interface electrical condition. The most important results of our experiments are the following: Silicon nitride appears to be the only satisfactory mask for Ga diffusions, although silicon dioxide is adequate for As, P and Sb diffusion masking. The dielectric properties of pyrolytically deposited SiO
2
can be made to approach those of thermal SiO
2
by high temperature densification. The surface electrical properties of the Ge-SiO
2
interface are more stable to thermal annealing than is any other Ge-insulator combination. However, aluminum oxide has been shown to be much less permeable to oxygen, hydrogen and water vapor than is SiO
2
. Since the Ge-insulator interface electrical properties are sensitive to these ambient gases, a satisfactory passivating film structure for Ge consists of an underlayer of SiO
2
and an overlayer of Al
2
O
3
, silicon nitride or other relatively impermeable film.