Multiscale modeling of CeO2/La2 O3 stacks for material/defect characterization

Presence of defects in high-k dielectric materials will affect device’s electrical properties, thus, defect/material characterization is of great importance. We present a simulation-based methodology relying on an accurate description of charge trapping and transport that is useful to extract relevant information on material and defect characteristics. This methodology was applied to cerium oxide and lanthanum oxide high-k dielectric materials and as a result, material properties alongside defect characteristics were extracted. Consequently, main charge conduction mechanism was identified to be trap-assisted tunneling (TAT).