Interface engineering of Ge using thulium oxide : Band line-up study

This paper investigates the band line-up and optical properties (dielectric function) of Tm2O3/Ge gate stacks deposited by atomic layer deposition. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy has been performed to ascertain the shallow core levels (Ge3d and Tm4d) in ultra-thin and bulk Tm2O3/Ge stacks as well as valence band maxima in Ge and bulk Tm2O3. The valence band offset of Tm2O3/Ge has been found to be 2.95 +/- 0.08 eV. Vacuum ultra violet variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometry studies reveal the indirect band gap nature of Tm2O3, with the value extracted from the Tauc method of 5.3 +/- 0.1 eV. A distinct absorption feature is observed at similar to 3.2 eV below the band gap of Tm2O3, and clearly distinguished from the Si and Ge critical points. A dielectric constant of 14 to 15 has been derived from the electrical measurements on 5 nm Tm2O3/epi Ge/Si gate stacks. The band line-up study of Tm2O3/Ge implies an acceptable barrier for holes (2.95 eV) and electrons (greater than 1.7 eV) for Ge MOSFET engineering.
QC 20130813