Advanced HfTaON/SiO/sub 2/ gate stack with high mobility and low leakage current for low-standby-power application

A novel HfTaON/SiO/sub 2/ gate stack has been investigated for low-standby-power (LSTP) CMOS application. This gate stack exhibited good physical and electrical characteristics, including good thermal stability up to 1000 /spl deg/C, low gate-leakage current, excellent interface properties, and superior electron and hole mobility (100% and 96% of universal curves at 0.8 MV/cm). The excellent characteristics observed in HfTaON/SiO/sub 2/ suggest that it may be a very promising gate stack for advanced LSTP CMOS application.