Degradation and breakdown of 0.9 nm EOT SiO/sub 2/ ALD HfO/sub 2/metal gate stacks under positive constant voltage stress

Author

Degraeve, R. ; Kauerauf, T. ; Cho, M. ; Zahid, M. ; Ragnarsson, L-Å ; Brunco, D.P. ; Kaczer, B. ; Roussel, Ph ; De Gendt, S. ; Groeseneken, G.

Author_Institution

IMEC, Leuven

fYear

2005

fDate

5-5 Dec. 2005

Firstpage

408

Lastpage

411

Abstract

By means of leakage current measurements, charge pumping and TDDB analysis, we construct a consistent model for the degradation and breakdown of 0.9 nm EOT atomic layer deposited (ALD) HfO₂. During degradation, traps and two-trap clusters are formed in the HfO ₂ giving rise to considerable SILC. The two-trap clusters subsequently wear out, finally leading to an abrupt hard breakdown. We demonstrate that 0.9 nm EOT ALD HfO₂ is intrinsically reliable under constant voltage stress if hard breakdown is used as a failure criterion

Keywords

atomic layer deposition; dielectric thin films; electric breakdown; failure analysis; hafnium compounds; interface states; leakage currents; reliability; silicon compounds; stress effects; 0.9 nm; HfO₂; SiO₂; TDDB analysis; atomic layer deposition; charge pumping; leakage current measurements; metal gate stacks; positive constant voltage stress; two-trap clusters; Atomic measurements; Breakdown voltage; Charge measurement; Charge pumps; Current measurement; Degradation; Electric breakdown; Hafnium oxide; Leakage current; Stress;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Electron Devices Meeting, 2005. IEDM Technical Digest. IEEE International

Conference_Location

Washington, DC

Print_ISBN

0-7803-9268-X

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IEDM.2005.1609364

Filename

1609364