Trapping properties of sputtered hafnium oxide films: Bulk traps vs. interface traps

• Published in: Thin solid films 2010-07, Vol.518 (19), p.5579-5584
• Main Authors: Verrelli, E., Galanopoulos, G., Zouboulis, I., Tsoukalas, D.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aluminum; Borders; Bulk trap; Charge distribution; Charge retention; Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Deposition; Deposition by sputtering; Electrical characterization; Electronic structure and electrical properties of surfaces, interfaces, thin films and low-dimensional structures; Electronic transport phenomena in thin films and low-dimensional structures; Exact sciences and technology; Hafnium oxide; High dielectric constant; Hysteresis; Interface trap; Materials science; Methods of deposition of films and coatings; film growth and epitaxy; Non-volatile memory; Physical vapor deposition; Physics; Silicon substrates; Spatial distribution; Sputtering; Surface and interface electron states; Thin films
• ISSN: 0040-6090; 1879-2731
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tsf.2010.05.051

The purpose of this work is to investigate the influence of the spatial distribution of traps on the electrical characteristics of hafnium oxide films deposited by physical vapor deposition. Samples were Al gated metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitors with hafnium oxide films deposited on SiO 2 layer thermally grown on Si. During capacitance–voltage measurements large hysteresis, up to 10 V, are observed in all samples. It is shown that depending on the hafnium oxide deposition conditions, the spatial distribution of the traps responsible for the hysteresis can be either two dimensional (interface/border traps) or three dimensional (bulk traps).