Investigation of PDA process to improve electrical characteristics of HfOxNy High-k dielectric formed by ECR plasma oxidation of HfN

In this paper, post deposition annealing (PDA) processes such as Si wafer covering rapid thermal annealing (SWC-RTA) and rapid cooling process were investigated to improve electrical characteristics of HfO_xN_y films formed by ECR Ar/O² plasma oxidation of ultra-thin HfN films. An EOT of 0.96 nm with leakage current density of 0.26 A/cm² was obtained by utilizing SWC-RTA and rapid cooling. The obtained result shows the smallest equivalent oxide thickness (EOT) for the HfO_xN_y film formed by ECR plasma process so far.