Breakdown in the metal/high-k gate stack: Identifying the “weak link” in the multilayer dielectric

Author

Bersuker, G. ; Heh, D. ; Young, C. ; Park, H. ; Khanal, P. ; Larcher, L. ; Padovani, A. ; Lenahan, P. ; Ryan, J. ; Lee, B.H. ; Tseng, H. ; Jammy, R.

Author_Institution

SEMATECH, Austin, TX

fYear

2008

fDate

15-17 Dec. 2008

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

4

Abstract

We apply a systematic approach to identify a high-k/metal gate stack degradation mechanism. Our results demonstrate that the SiO₂ interfacial layer controls the overall degradation and breakdown of the high-k gate stacks stressed in inversion. Defects contributing to the gate stack degradation are associated with the high-k/metal-induced oxygen vacancies in the interfacial layer.

Keywords

electric breakdown; hafnium compounds; metal-insulator boundaries; multilayers; silicon compounds; titanium compounds; vacancies (crystal); HfO₂-TiN-SiO₂; breakdown; degradation mechanism; interfacial layer; metal/high-k gate stack; multilayer dielectric; oxygen vacancies; weak link; Degradation; Dielectric breakdown; Dielectric substrates; Electrodes; Frequency; High K dielectric materials; High-K gate dielectrics; Nonhomogeneous media; Stress; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Electron Devices Meeting, 2008. IEDM 2008. IEEE International

Conference_Location

San Francisco, CA

ISSN

8164-2284

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-2377-4

Electronic_ISBN

8164-2284

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IEDM.2008.4796816

Filename

4796816