High-K Dielectric Materials

In Microelectronics

NAME: Neha Tomar

IIT GUWAHATI
 OUTLINE
INTRODUCTION
MOORE’S 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
MOORE’S 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 High-k
Capacitance 1* 1.6*
Leakage 1* < 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
Doesn’t 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 can’t 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 Thermal
material constant Current stability
reduction Tmax ‘c
ZrO2 ~23 *104-105 ~900
HfO2 ~20 *104-105 ~950
Y2O3 ~15 *104-105 Silicate
formation
Al2O3 ~10 *102-103 ~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
MOCVD
BST deposition techniques
rf-sputtering
Main techniques

HIGH-K DIELECTRICS IN MICROELECTRONICS

APPLICATIONS IN MICROELECTRONICS
HIGH-K DIELECTRICS FOR DRAMS
Process Integration
ELECTRODE MATERIAL

Noble metals Conducting

Exp-Pt, Ru etc Oxides
Exp-Iro2 etc
•Low leakage •High leakage
current 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
Time to breakdown
Reliability 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 Moore’s 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. D’Emic” 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.Intel’s 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