Effects of high-k post-deposition cleaning in improving CMOS bias instabilities and mobility: a potential issue in reliability of dual metal gate technology

The effects of H/sub 2/O and HCl post-clean after Hf-silicate deposition in improving bias instability, reliability and mobility of CMOS devices have been demonstrated. It was found that HCl post-treatment reduced charge trapping, thus improved bias instabilities, but had no effect on interface traps. High pressure H/sub 2/ anneal improved interface states significantly, with no effect on bulk traps at all.