Characterization and evaluation of ALD-HfO/sub 2/ using H/sub 2/O and D/sub 2/O as an oxidant

Oxide degradation and breakdown have received increasing attention since they cause failure in advanced ULSI devices and, therefore, may impede the down scaling trend of oxide thickness and MOSFET size (Han et al., 1997). The electrical and reliability characteristics of the dielectric are sensitive to the concentration of hydrogen-related species in the bulk oxide and interface (Cohen and Gorczyca, 1998). Recently, improvements in the reliability of deuterium annealed MOS capacitor have been reported (Jung et al., 2000). In this research, we focused on the investigation of the degradation and t/sub BD/ characteristics of HfO/sub 2/ prepared by ALD with different oxidants (H/sub 2/O and D/sub 2/O) under electrical stress.