Post-Deposition Annealing Analysis for HfO[sub 2] Thin Films Using GIXRR∕GIXRD

High‐k materials, such as HfO2, Al2O3, and many others, have been employed to replace the SiO2 insulator in the gate dielectric device in order to offer significant gate leakage reduction. In this study, the physical properties of hafnium dioxide (HfO2) thin films were analyzed and characterized in the cases of ‘as‐deposited’ and ‘post‐deposition annealing’ (PDA). Ultra‐thin hafnium dioxide films of thickness 2.5, 5 and 10 nm were deposited on Si (100) substrates using atomic layer deposition (ALD) at temperature of 300° C. After deposition, the films were annealed using furnace in Ar ambient for 10 minutes at 450° C, 550° C, 650° C and 750° C. The thickness, density, roughness and the crystalline evolution of the HfO2 films were investigated by Grazing Incidence X‐Ray Reflectometry (GIXRR) and Grazing Incidence X‐Ray Diffraction (GIXRD) for both as‐deposited and post‐annealing conditions. Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) was used to provide image verification of the two‐layer model applied in XRR f...