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Abstract: A systematic analysis of the different methods of work function (WF) tuning for gate stacks using fully silicided (FUSI) gate electrodes is presented. We show that FUSI gates have the potential to meet the WF requirements for future nodes, including high performance applications, achieving band edge WF, with total WF range of up to ∼900 meV. The introduction of dopants (such as Sb, As, P, B) by ion implantation is shown to be effective to tune the WF of NiSi or Ni3Si2 on SiO2 or SiON by ∼550 meV, but is ineffective on HfSiON or for Ni-richer silicides. Different silicide phases can be used for Ni FUSI gates on HfSiON dielectrics, taking advantage of the higher WF of metal-rich silicides, achieving a WF range of ∼400 meV. This method is not effective, however, on SiON dielectrics. The introduction of Lanthanides by several techniques (such as dielectric cap deposition, ion implantation into poly-Si, or at metal deposition) that result in the modification of the dielectric, is found, for Ni FUSI gates, to achieve low WF (∼4.0 eV) suitable for NMOS. Similarly, incorporation of Al can be used to achieve PMOS type WF, as well as the use of metal-rich Ni and/or Pt based FUSI gates (with WF as high as 5.0 eV). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A study of the implementation of Ni fully silicided (FUSI) gates to scaled devices is presented, addressing the issue of phase control at short gate lengths. A linewidth effect for Ni FUSI gates is found for non-optimized processes targeting NiSi, with formation of NiSi at long gate lengths and Ni-rich silicides at short gate lengths. This is attributed to Ni diffusion from areas surrounding the gates, resulting in a larger reacted Ni–Si ratio at short gate lengths. The linewidth dependence of the Ni FUSI phase results in an undesirable kink in the V t roll-off characteristics, due to the difference in effective work function between the Ni silicide phases, which is particularly large for HfSiON dielectrics. An optimized 2-step RTP silicidation process is shown to eliminate this problem allowing the formation of NiSi gates uniformly at all gate lengths. The application and scalability of Ni-rich silicides to PMOS devices is also demonstrated, as well as a scheme for CMOS integration of dual WF phase controlled FUSI (NiSi for NMOS and Ni-rich silicides for PMOS), using an etch back step to reduce the poly-Si height on PMOS electrodes before full silicidation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The pronounced high interfacial densities of states (Dit) commonly observed around the midgap energy of dielectric/GaAs interfaces are generally considered the culprit responsible for the poor electrical performance of the corresponding inversion-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect-transistors. In this work, comprehensive Dit spectra as the function of energy [Dit(E)] inside the In0.2Ga0.8As band gap were constructed by using the quasistatic capacitance-voltage and the temperature-dependent conductance method on n- and p-type ultrahigh vacuum (UHV)-Ga2O3(Gd2O3)/In0.2Ga0.8As and atomic-layer-deposited (ALD)-Al2O3/In0.2Ga0.8As metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitors. Unlike the ALD-Al2O3/In0.2Ga0.8As interface giving a Dit spectrum with a high midgap Dit peak, the UHV-Ga2O3(Gd2O3)/In0.2Ga0.8As interface shows a Dit spectrum that monotonically decreases from the valence band to the conduction band with no discernible midgap peak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effective work function (WF) of Ni3Si2 was evaluated on HfSixOy and SiO2 dielectrics. Ni3Si2 forms, in thin film Ni–Si diffusion couples with Ni to Si composition ratios between 1 and 2, after formation of a Ni2Si/NiSi stack and by its reaction at moderate thermal budgets (comparable to those used in back end processing of complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor circuits). Ni3Si2 formation limits, on the Ni-rich side, the process window for NiSi fully silicided (FUSI) gates (NiSi at interface with dielectric) to reacted Ni–Si ratios <1.5. The WF of Ni3Si2 was found to have similar values and behavior to that of NiSi, both on SiO2 (showing similar modulation with dopants) and on HfSixOy, in contrast to Ni-richer silicides such as Ni2Si and Ni31Si12 which do not exhibit significant WF modulation with dopants on SiO2 and have considerably higher WF on HfSixOy. This suggests that the chemistry and structure of the original NiSi/dielectric interface are not modified significantly by the subsequent growth of Ni3Si2 and implies that its formation may be tolerable when targeting NiSi FUSI gates, thereby expanding the process window for this application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]