Reduced impurities and improved electrical properties of atomic-layer-deposited HfO2 film grown at a low temperature (100 degrees C) by Al2O3 incorporation

Abstract

The HfO2 films grown by atomic layer deposition (ALD) at a low temperature (100 degrees C) necessarily has a large amount of residual impurities due to lack of thermal energy for stable ALD reactions such as ligand removal and oxidation, which degrades various properties. However, Al2O3 incorporation into the film significantly decreased the residual impurities despite of a low growth temperature. The decrease in C impurity is attributed to the reduced oxygen vacancies by the incorporated Al2O3 phase or the high reactivity of Al precursor. Consequently, the electronic band structure of the film, and thereby the electrical properties were improved significantly. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.