Nhan V. Nguyen

Spectroscopic ellipsometry characterization of high-k dielectric HfO2 thin films and the high-temperature annealing effects on their optical properties

The optical properties of a set of high-k dielectric HfO2 films annealed at various high temperatures were determined by spectroscopic ellipsometry. The results show that the characteristics of the dielectric functions of these films are strongly affected by high temperature annealing. For a sample annealed at 600 °C, the film becomes polycrystalline, and its dielectric function displays a distinctive peak at 5.9 eV. On the other hand, the film remains amorphous without the 5.9 eV feature after 500 °C annealing. To model the dielectric functions, the Tauc–Lorentz dispersion was successfully adopted for these amorphous and polycrystalline films. The absorption edge was observed to shift to a higher energy at a high temperature annealing. Defects in the films were shown to relate to the appearance of a band tail above the absorption edge, and they appear to diminish with high temperature annealing.

Interfacial properties of ZrO2 on silicon

The interface of zirconium oxide thin films on silicon is analyzed in detail for their potential applications in the microelectronics. The formation of an interfacial layer of ZrSixOy with graded Zr concentration is observed by the x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and secondary ion mass spectrometry analysis. The as-deposited ZrO2/ZrSixOy/Si sample is thermally stable up to 880 °C, but is less stable compared to the ZrO2/SiO2/Si samples. Post-deposition annealing in oxygen or ammonia improved the thermal stability of as-deposited ZrO2/ZrSixOy/Si to 925 °C, likely due to the oxidation/nitridation of the interface. The as-deposited film had an equivalent oxide thickness of ∼1.3 nm with a dielectric constant of ∼21 and a leakage current of 3.2×10−3 A/cm2 at −1.5 V. Upon oxygen or ammonia annealing, the formation of SiOx and SiHxNyOz at the interface reduced the overall dielectric constants.

Optical band gaps and composition dependence of hafnium–aluminate thin films grown by atomic layer chemical vapor deposition

We report the optical properties of unannealed hafnium–aluminate (HfAlO) films grown by atomic layer chemical vapor deposition (ALCVD) and correlate them with the aluminum contents in the films. Vacuum ultraviolet spectroscopic ellipsometry (VUV-SE), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), channeling Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS), and resonant nuclear reaction analysis (NRA) were employed to characterize these films. In the analyses of ellipsometry data, a double Tauc–Lorentz dispersion produces a best fit to the experimental VUV-SE data. As a result, the determined complex pseudodielectric ⟨e⟩ functions of the films clearly exhibit a dependency on the aluminum densities measured by RBS and NRA. We show that the optical fundamental band gap Eg shifts from 5.56±0.05eV for HfO2 to 5.92±0.05eV for HfAlO. The latter was grown by using an equal number of pulses of H2O∕HfCl4 and H2O∕TMA (trimethylaluminum) precursors in each deposition cycle for HfO2 and Al2O3, respectively. The...

Determination of the optical constants of ZnSe films by spectroscopic ellipsometry

Spectroscopic ellipsometry was used to determine the real and imaginary parts of the dielectric function of ZnSe thin films grown on (001) GaAs substrates by molecular‐beam epitaxy, for energies between 1.5 and 5.0 eV. A sum of harmonic oscillators is used to fit the dielectric function in order to determine the values of the threshold energies at the critical points. The fundamental energy gap was determined to be at 2.68 eV. The E0+Δ0 and E1 points were found to be equal to 3.126 and 4.75 eV, respectively. Below the fundamental absorption edge, a Sellmeir‐type function was used to represent the refractive index. At the critical points, E0 and E0+Δ0, the fitting was improved by using an explicit function combining the contributions of these two points to the dielectric function.

Spectroscopic ellipsometry determination of the properties of the thin underlying strained Si layer and the roughness at SiO2/Si interface

The existence of both the strain and microroughness at the interface of thermally grown SiO2 films on Si was ascertained unambiguously for the first time by high accuracy spectroscopic ellipsometry. The dielectric function of the interface was determined by a comprehensive data analysis procedure. By carefully examining the dielectric function obtained by our model, the strain was seen to cause a red shift of 0.042 eV of the interband critical point E1 compared with the bulk silicon value. The thickness of the interface region was found to be 2.2 nm of which a significant part is due to the strain.

The relationship between local order, long range order, and sub-band-gap defects in hafnium oxide and hafnium silicate films

We have measured x-ray absorption spectra (XAS) at the oxygen K edge for hafnium oxide (HfO2) films grown by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and atomic layer deposition (ALD), as well as for hafnium silicate (HfSiO) films grown by CVD. The XAS results are compared to x-ray diffraction (XRD) and spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) data from the same films. Features characteristic of crystalline HfO2 are observed in the XAS spectra from all CVD-grown HfO2 films, even for a thickness of 5 nm where XRD is not sensitive. XAS and XRD spectra from the ALD-grown HfO2 films exhibit the signature of crystallinity only for films that are 20 nm or thicker. These characteristic XAS features are absent in all HfSiO films measured, which is consistent with their being amorphous. The appearance of these peaks in XAS and XRD is correlated with sub-band-gap absorption in the SE spectra, which appears to be intrinsic to crystalline HfO2 in the monoclinic phase.

Effects of high-temperature annealing on the dielectric function of Ta2O5 films observed by spectroscopic ellipsometry

Postdeposition annealing of high-k dielectric Ta2O5 films to eliminate contaminations can adversely cause the films to crystallize, which can be detrimental to their complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor device performances. In this letter, we will show that spectroscopic ellipsometry can be used to quickly and nondestructively detect such crystallization by identifying the two relatively sharp absorption peaks at 4.7 and 5.2 eV in the complex dielectric function of the films. Such peaks are absent in amorphous Ta2O5 films. In general, these sharp structures in the dielectric function are expected from the presence of long-range order in materials, which produces singularities in their interband density of states. Using this approach, we will show that Ta2O5 films become crystalline when annealed at or above 750 °C and remain amorphous below 700 °C.

Band offsets of Al2O3/InxGa1−xAs (x=0.53 and 0.75) and the effects of postdeposition annealing

Band offsets at the interfaces of InxGa1−xAs/Al2O3/Al where x=0.53 and 0.75 were determined by internal photoemission and spectroscopic ellipsometry. The photoemission energy threshold at the InxGa1−xAs/Al2O3 interface was found to be insensitive to the indium composition but shifted to a lower energy after a postdeposition annealing at high temperatures. Subthreshold electron photoemission was also observed for the annealed sample and was attributed to interfacial layer formation during the annealing process.

Neutron reflectometry, x-ray reflectometry, and spectroscopic ellipsometry characterization of thin SiO2 on Si

We present here a comparison of neutron reflectometry, x-ray reflectometry, and spectroscopic ellipsometry on a thin oxide film. These three probes each independently determine the structure of the film as a function of depth. We find an excellent agreement between the three techniques for measurements of thicknesses and interfacial roughnesses for both the SiO2 and surface contamination layers found in the sample. Realistic models based on interface parameters measured herein indicate that as the SiO2 layers decrease to sizes projected for future generations of electronic devices, both spectroscopic ellipsometry and neutron reflectometry can easily measure SiO2 films to 2 nm thick or less.

Electron beam deposition of ZrO2ZnO films

Abstract Thin films of zirconia-zincia (ZrO2ZnO) have been produced by an electron beam evaporation technique. Two separate targets of ZrO2 and ZnO were used and a range of composition was selected from 10 to 60 wt.% of zinc. The final compositions of the deposited films were determined by X-ray fluorescence. Films deposited at 300 °C all crystallized in the cubic phase of ZrO2. The refractive indices of these films were measured by an ellipsometric technique. Preliminary electrical resistivity measurements as a function of temperature are also presented.