Effect of initial oxidized layer condition on passivation quality of AlOx films deposited by atomic layer deposition technique at room temperature

To investigate the effect of initial oxidized layer condition on passivation quality of AlO_x films deposited at room temperature by means of ozone-based atomic layer deposition technique, crystalline silicon substrates were exposed to ozone before deposition. This ozone exposure pre-treatment increased the thickness of over-layer as compared with standard samples, and deteriorate interface quality of as-deposited samples. For 10nm-thick samples, the ozone exposure pre-treatment is effective for generation of negative fixed charges. The effective lifetime of the sample with ozone exposure and post-deposition annealing is 1.8 msec at the injection level of 10¹⁵ cm^-3. For 30nm-thick samples, ozone exposure pre-treatment improves the effective lifetime.