High-K Dielectric Materials In Microelectronics

NAME: Neha Tomar IIT GUWAHATI

OUTLINE
INTRODUCTION
MOORES LAW AND TRANSISTOR SCALING WHY HIGH-K DIELECTRICS?

APPLICATIONS IN MICROELECTRONICS
HIGH-K DIELECTRICS IN DRAMS HIGH-K GATE DIELECTRICS

SUMMARY

HIGH-K DIELECTRICS IN MICROELECTRONICS

INTRODUCTION
MOORES LAW
A prediction made by Mr. Gordon Moore that the number of transistors on a chip double every two years.

HIGH-K DIELECTRICS IN MICROELECTRONICS

INTRODUCTION
Transistor physical gate length will reach ~15nm before end of this decade, and ~10nm early next decade

HIGH-K DIELECTRICS IN MICROELECTRONICS

INTRODUCTION
PROBLEM AS TRANSISTOR IS MADE SMALLER.
Gate dielectric ,Silicon dioxide are only a few atomic layers thick now. Leakage current increases, as thickness decreases.

A New dielectric material is needed to reduce leakage current.

HIGH-K DIELECTRICS IN MICROELECTONICS

INTRODUCTION
WHAT ARE HIGH-K MATERIALS?
Thicker class of material known as High-K is likely to

replace Silicon oxide.

K stands for dielectric constant, a measure of how much

charge a material can hold.

HIGH-K DIELECTRICS IN MICROELECTONICS

INTRODUCTION
HIGH-K MATERIAL BENEFITS

Sio2 Capacitance 1* Leakage 1*

High-k 1.6* < 0.01*

HIGH-K DIELECTRICS IN MICROELECTONICS

APPLICATIONS IN MICROELECTRONICS
HIGH-K GATE STACKS
TRANSISTOR
A simple switch Current flows source to drain when a certain Voltage is applied on The gate, otherwise Doesnt flow.

Schematic of important regions Of field effect transistor gate stack

HIGH-K DIELECTRICS IN MICROELECTRONICS

APPLICATIONS IN MICROELECTRONICS
HIGH-K GATE STACKS Scaling limits for current Gate Dielectrics
Silicon dioxide is current gate dielectrics

Sio2 thickness cant be decreased less than 1-1.5nm, because leakage current increases So, Continual scaling. will require high-K material for dielectric layer.

HIGH-K DIELECTRICS IN MICROELECTRONICS

APPLICATIONS IN MICROELECTRONICS
HIGH-K GATE STACKS
ALTERNATIVE HIGH-K GATE DIELECTRICS Metal oxides of ZrO2, HfO2, Y2O3 and Al2O3

High-K Dielectric Leakage material constant Current reduction ZrO2 ~23 *104-105 HfO2 ~20 *104-105 Y2O3 ~15 *104-105 Al2O3 ~10 *102-103

Thermal stability Tmax c ~900 ~950 Silicate formation ~1000

HIGH-K DIELECTRICS IN MICROELECTRONICS

APPLICATIONS IN MICROELECTRONICS
HIGH-K GATE STACKS
ALTERNATIVE HIGH-K GATE DIELECTRICS Pseudo binary materials (HfO2)x (SiO2)1-x and (ZrO2)x(SiO2)1-x
Silicate-Si

interface is chemically similar to the SiO2-Si Interface.

Low

defect densities

Hf-silicate between Si layer

HIGH-K DIELECTRICS IN MICROELECTRONICS

APPLICATIONS IN MICROELECTRONICS
HIGH-K GATE STACKS
ALTERNATIVE HIGH-K GATE DIELECTRICS Pseudo binary materials (HfO2)x (SiO2)1-x and (ZrO2)x(SiO2)1-x
Silicate-Si

interface is chemically similar to the SiO2-Si Interface.

Low

defect densities

Hf-silicate between Si layer

HIGH-K DIELECTRICS IN MICROELECTRONICS

APPLICATIONS IN MICROELECTRONICS
HIGH-K GATE STACKS
KEY GUIDELINES FOR SELECTING AN ALTERNATIVE GATE DIELECTRIC Interface quality Permittivity and band gap Thermodynamic stability Compatibility with the current or expected materials to be used in processing for CMOS devices Reliability

HIGH-K DIELECTRICS IN MICROELECTRONICS

APPLICATIONS IN MICROELECTRONICS
HIGH-K GATE STACKS
PROCESS ISSUES THAT AFFECT DEVICE
Pre-deposition treatments HF last,O3 etc. Pre/post-deposition annealing O2 and N2 annealing etc. High-k deposition ALD,CVD etc. Gate electrode
metal gates, poly-silicon gates etc.

HIGH-K DIELECTRICS IN MICROELECTRONICS

APPLICATIONS IN MICROELECTRONICS
HIGH-K GATE STACKS
GATE ELECTRODE PROBLEMS WHEN SiO2 IS REPLACED WITH HIGH-K
Problems arise due to interaction with the Poly-Si gate Phonon Scattering electrons slow down Threshold voltage pinning-Due to defects that arise at the gate-dielectric/gate electrode

HIGH-K DIELECTRICS IN MICROELECTRONICS

APPLICATIONS IN MICROELECTRONICS
HIGH-K DIELECTRICS IN DRAMS GATE ELECTRODE SOLUTION-METAL GATE

HIGH-K DIELECTRICS IN MICROELECTRONICS

APPLICATIONS IN MICROELECTRONICS
HIGH-K GATE STACKS
STATE-OF-THE-ART TRANSISTOR Metal gate and high-K dielectric transistor offer the promise toward CMOS Technology nodes.

Other technologies are also emerging for low-power and high-performance logic. For example Nanoelectronic devices, SOI, double gate and tri-gate etc.

HIGH-K DIELECTRICS IN MICROELECTRONICS

APPLICATIONS IN MICROELECTRONICS
HIGH-K DIELECTRICS FOR DRAMS

WHAT IS DRAM?
DRAM is a type of random access memory that stores each bit of data in a separate capacitor.

HIGH-K DIELECTRICS IN MICROELECTRONICS

APPLICATIONS IN MICROELECTRONICS
HIGH-K DIELECTRICS FOR DRAMS
The continuous shrinking technology up to Gbit density exposes many challenges.

Sio2 can not be made thinner any more. Alternative dielectric having a substantially higher permittivity is needed for further high density DRAMs.

HIGH-K DIELECTRICS IN MICROELECTRONICS

APPLICATIONS IN MICROELECTRONICS
HIGH-K DIELECTRICS FOR DRAMS
ALTERNATIVE HIGH-K DIELECTRICS FOR DRAMS

Among this, BST film is the most promising capacitor material in future DRAM applications.

HIGH-K DIELECTRICS IN MICROELECTRONICS

APPLICATIONS IN MICROELECTRONICS
HIGH-K DIELECTRICS FOR DRAMS BST capacitor structure with the stacked barrier scheme.
Cross-section TEM Image of a stacked-capacitor Structure with a BST dielectric Pt electrode and a TaSiN barrier layer. Minimum feature size=0.2um Dielectric thickness=27 nm

HIGH-K DIELECTRICS IN MICROELECTRONICS

APPLICATIONS IN MICROELECTRONICS
HIGH-K DIELECTRICS FOR DRAMS Factors that influence BST thin film properties
Processing methods Film composition Crystalline structure Microstructure Surface morphology Film thickness

HIGH-K DIELECTRICS IN MICROELECTRONICS

APPLICATIONS IN MICROELECTRONICS
HIGH-K DIELECTRICS FOR DRAMS
Process Integration Main Points BST deposition techniques Electrode material & Barriers

HIGH-K DIELECTRICS IN MICROELECTRONICS

APPLICATIONS IN MICROELECTRONICS
HIGH-K DIELECTRICS FOR DRAMS
Process Integration BST deposition techniques Main techniques
MOCVD rf-sputtering

HIGH-K DIELECTRICS IN MICROELECTRONICS

APPLICATIONS IN MICROELECTRONICS
HIGH-K DIELECTRICS FOR DRAMS
Process Integration

ELECTRODE MATERIAL

Noble metals Exp-Pt, Ru etc Low leakage current

Conducting Oxides Exp-Iro2 etc High leakage current

HIGH-K DIELECTRICS IN MICROELECTRONICS

APPLICATIONS IN MICROELECTRONICS
HIGH-K DIELECTRICS FOR DRAMS
Process Integration
Various integration schemes for BST capacitor

HIGH-K DIELECTRICS IN MICROELECTRONICS

APPLICATIONS IN MICROELECTRONICS
HIGH-K DIELECTRICS FOR DRAMS
Last but not least

Reliability

Time to breakdown Ba0.47Sr0.53TiO3 at various OMR

Time to breakdown Ba0.47Sr0.53TiO3 Deposited on various electrodes TDDB for various DRAM dielectrics

HIGH-K DIELECTRICS IN MICROELECTRONICS

APPLICATIONS IN MICROELECTRONICS
HIGH-K DIELECTRICS FOR DRAMS
High-k dielectrics (BST film ) has become the dielectric material of choice for cell capacitor of the dynamic random access memory devices (DRAMs) having gigabit densities To continue shrinking technology , BST thin films will be a productive field of research and development.

HIGH-K DIELECTRICS IN MICROELECTRONICS

SUMMARY
To continue Moores law for next decades, New materials are needed. High-k dielectrics may ultimately lead to vaster and enable applications. Industry is seeking for new materials and technologies that can replace SiO2 and scaling remains continue.

HIGH-K DIELECTRICS IN MICROELECTRONICS

References
1. H.R. Huff , A. Hou, C. Lim, Y. Kim, J. Barnett, G. Bersuker, G.A Brown, C.D. Young,P.M. Zeitzoff, J. Gutt, P. Lysaght, M.I. Gardner, R.W. Murto High-k gate stacks for planar, scaled CMOS integrated circuits(2003). 2. Cheol Seong Hwang (Ba,Sr)TiO3 thin films for ultra large scale dynamic random access memory. A review on the process integration.(1998) 3. S. Ezhilvalavan, Tseung-Yuen Tseng Progress in the developments of (Ba,Sr)TiO3 (BST) thin films for Gigabit era DRAMs(2000). 4. G. D. Wilk, R. M. Wallaceb, J. M. Anthony High- kgate dielectrics: Current status and materials properties considerations(2001). 5. Ofer Sneh*, Robert B.Clark-Phelps, Ana R.Londer gan, Jereld Winkler, Thomas E.Seidel Thin film atomic layer deposition equipment for semiconductor processing(2002). 6. E.P. Gusev , E. Cartier , D.A. Buchanan , M. Gribelyuk , M. Copel , a H. Okorn-Schmidt , C. DEmic Ultrathin high-K metal oxides on silicon: processing, characterization and integration issues(2001).

HIGH-K DIELECTRICS IN MICROELECTRONICS

References
7. D. E. Kotecki,J. D. Baniecki,H. Shen ,R. B. Laibowitz,K. L. Saenger ,J. J. Lian,T. M Shaw ,S. D. Athavale,C. Cabral, Jr.,P. R. Duncombe ,M. Gutsche ,G. Kunkel ,Y.J. Park,Y.-Y. Wang,R. Wise (Ba,Sr)TiO3 dielectrics for future stacked capacitor DRAM(1999). 8.Intels High Gate k/Metal Gate Announcement November 4th, 2003. 9.Wilman Tsai and Robert Chau Integration of Metal gate-High k Dielectrics to Extend Transistor Scaling(2004).

HIGH-K DIELECTRICS IN MICROELECTRONICS