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Properties of ALD TaxNy films as a barrier to aluminum in work function metal stacks.
- Source :
- Journal of Applied Physics; 2018, Vol. 124 Issue 16, pN.PAG-N.PAG, 13p, 1 Diagram, 1 Chart, 13 Graphs
- Publication Year :
- 2018
-
Abstract
- Atomic layer deposited (ALD) tantalum nitride (Ta<subscript>x</subscript>N<subscript>y</subscript>) is evaluated as a barrier against aluminum inside gate metal stacks of metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) devices. When deposited on hygroscopic oxides, like HfO<subscript>2</subscript>, amorphous tantalum nitride (a-Ta<subscript>x</subscript>N<subscript>y</subscript>) is obtained, while deposition on Si or TiN results in polycrystalline Ta<subscript>3</subscript>N<subscript>5</subscript>. The low conductivity of both phases is not attractive for gate metal applications; however, a-Ta<subscript>x</subscript>N<subscript>y</subscript> is crystallized to bixbyite Ta<subscript>2</subscript>N<subscript>3</subscript> at 500 °C, improving its conductivity to ∼130 Ω<superscript>−1</superscript> cm<superscript>−1</superscript>. For thicknesses below 10 nm, crystallization did not happen, but thin a-Ta<subscript>x</subscript>N<subscript>y</subscript> barriers still obtain conductivity improvements to ∼500 Ω<superscript>−1</superscript> cm<superscript>−1</superscript> when Al diffuses into the film. In metal gate stacks, a-Ta<subscript>x</subscript>N<subscript>y</subscript> screens the low work function of ALD TiAl more effectively than TiN. A barrier thickness reduction of 50% is achieved for n-MOSFET devices with an effective work function at 4.2–4.3 eV and low gate leakage. Slower diffusion of Al into Ta<subscript>x</subscript>N<subscript>y</subscript> is observed by secondary ion mass spectroscopy; however, the cause of EWF lowering as a result of Al diffusion could not be confirmed. Instead, restoration of high EWF after removal of TiAl occurs, enabling an NMOS-first process integration with the use of 1 nm thin Ta<subscript>x</subscript>N<subscript>y</subscript> barriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 00218979
- Volume :
- 124
- Issue :
- 16
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Journal of Applied Physics
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 132787170
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5040840