Valeri Afanas'ev

Intrinsic SiC/SiO2 Interface States

The energy distribution of electron states at SiC/SiO 2 interfaces produced by oxidation of various (3C, 4H, 6H) SiC polytypes is studied by electrical analysis techniques and internal photoemission spectroscopy. A similar distribution of interface traps over the SiC bandgap is observed for different polytypes indicating a common nature of interfacial defects. Carbon clusters at the SiC/SiO 2 interface and near-interfacial defects in the SiO 2 are proposed to be responsible for the dominant portion of interface traps, while contributions caused by dopant-related defects and dangling bonds at the SiC surface are not observed.

Electronic properties of hydrogenated silicene and germanene

The electronic properties of hydrogenated silicene and germanene, so called silicane and germanane, respectively, are investigated using first-principles calculations based on density functional theory. Two different atomic configurations are found to be stable and energetically degenerate. Upon the adsorption of hydrogen, an energy gap opens in silicene and germanene. Their energy gaps are next computed using the HSE hybrid functional as well as the G0W0 many-body perturbation method. These materials are found to be wide band-gap semiconductors, the type of gap in silicane (direct or indirect) depending on its atomic configuration. Germanane is predicted to be a direct-gap material, independent of its atomic configuration, with an average energy gap of about 3.2 eV, this material thus being potentially interesting for optoelectronic applications in the blue/violet spectral range.

Internal photoemission of electrons and holes from (100)Si into HfO2

The electron energy band alignment at the Si/HfO2 interfaces with different interlayers (Si3N4, SiON, and SiO2) is directly determined using internal photoemission of electrons and holes from Si into the Hf oxide. Irrespective of the interlayer type, the energy barrier for the Si valence electrons was found to be equal 3.1±0.1 eV, yielding the conduction band offset of 2.0±0.1 eV. Photoemission of holes is effectively suppressed by SiON and SiO2 interlayers, yet it is observed to occur across the Si3N4 interlayer with a barrier of 3.6±0.1 eV, which corresponds to a Si/HfO2 valence band offset of 2.5±0.1 eV. The HfO2 band gap width of 5.6 eV, thus derived from the band offsets, coincides with the bulk value obtained from the oxide photoconductivity spectra.

Band alignment and defect states at SiC/oxide interfaces

Comparative analysis of the electronic structure of thermally oxidized surfaces of silicon and silicon carbide indicates that in both cases the fundamental (bulk-band-related) spectrum of electron states is established within less than 1 nm distance from the interface plane. The latter suggests an abrupt transition from semiconductor to insulator. However, a large density of interface traps is observed in the oxidized SiC, which are mostly related to the clustering of elemental carbon during oxide growth and to the presence of defects in the near-interfacial oxides. Recent advancements in reducing the adverse effect of these traps suggest that the SiC oxidation technology has not reached its limits yet and fabrication of functional SiC/oxide interfaces is possible.

HfO2-based insulating stacks on 4H-SiC(0001)

Depositing HfO2 layers on ultrathin thermally grown SiO2 on 4H–SiC(0001) is demonstrated to yield an insulator with good properties. The stack combines the high quality of the ultrathin SiO2/SiC interface and associated high energy barriers for electron and hole injection from SiC with the high dielectric permittivity of HfO2 (≈20). The latter allows application of high electric fields to the SiC surface (up to 3 MV/cm), while keeping the strength of the field in the insulator at a moderate level.

Conduction band-edge States associated with the removal of d-state degeneracies by the Jahn-Teller effect

X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) is used to study band edge electronic structure of high-/spl kappa/ transition metal (TM) and trivalent lanthanide rare earth (RE) oxide gate dielectrics. The lowest conduction band d/sup */-states in TiO/sub 2/, ZrO/sub 2/ and HfO/sub 2/ are correlated with: 1) features in the O K/sub 1/ edge, and 2) transitions from occupied Ti 2p, Zr 3p and Hf 4p states to empty Ti 3d-, Zr 4d-, and Hf 5d-states, respectively. The relative energies of d-state features indicate that the respective optical bandgaps, E/sub opt/ (or equivalently, E/sub g/), and conduction band offset energy with respect to Si, E/sub B/, scale monotonically with the d-state energies of the TM/RE atoms. The multiplicity of d-state features in the Ti L/sub 2,3/ spectrum of TiO/sub 2/, and in the derivative of the O K/sub 1/ spectra for ZrO/sub 2/ and HfO/sub 2/ indicate a removal of d-state degeneracies that results from a static Jahn-Teller effect in these nanocrystalline thin film oxides. Similar removals of d-state degeneracies are demonstrated for complex TM/RE oxides including Zr and Hf titanates, and La, Gd and Dy scandates. Analysis of XAS and band edge spectra indicate an additional band edge state that is assigned Jahn-Teller distortions at internal grain boundaries. These band edges defect states are electronically active in photoconductivity (PC), internal photoemission (IPE), and act as bulk traps in metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) devices, contributing to asymmetries in tunneling and Frenkel-Poole transport that have important consequences for performance and reliability in advanced Si devices.

“Carbon cluster model” for electronic states at SiCSiO2 interfaces

Abstract The electronic properties of the SiC SiO 2 interface are studied for a series of SiC polytypes (3C, 4H, 6H) using various electrical methods and internal photoemission spectroscopy. The energy distribution of states at SiC SiO 2 interfaces is found to be similar for all the investigated polytypes. The lowest density of states measured at SiC SiO 2 interfaces is at least one order of magnitude higher than the density of states at Si SiO 2 interfaces. We have strong indications that this enhancement is caused by residual carbon (graphite-like films, carbon clusters) bonded at the SiC SiO 2 interface. We propose a “carbon cluster model”, which qualitatively describes the electrical properties of (3C, 4H, 6H)-SiC MOS structures.

Low Density of Interface States in n-Type 4H-SiC MOS Capacitors Achieved by Nitrogen Implantation

A surface-near Gaussian nitrogen (N) profile is implanted into n-type 4H-SiC epilayers prior to a standard oxidation process. Depending on the depth of the oxidized layer and on the implanted N concentration, the density of interface states DIT determined in corresponding 4H-SiC MOS capacitors decreases to a minimum value of approx. 1010 cm-2eV-1 in the investigated energy range (EC-(0.1 eV to 0.6 eV)), while the flat-band voltage increases to negative values due to generated fixed positive charges. A thin surface-near layer, which is highly N-doped during the chemical vapour deposition growth, leads to a reduction of DIT only close to the conduction band edge.

Electrical conduction and band offsets in Si/HfxTi1−xO2/metal structures

The electron energy band alignment in the Si/HfxTi1−xO2/metal (Au,Al) structures is determined as a function of oxide composition using internal photoemission of electrons and photoconductivity measurements. For x⩽0.5 the electron excitations with thresholds corresponding to the band-gap width of amorphous TiO2 (4.4 eV) and HfO2 (5.6 and 5.9 eV) are observed at the same time, suggesting formation of TiO2- and HfO2-like subnetworks. With respect to the Fermi level of Au the conduction band of TiO2 appears to be 1.4 eV below the conduction band of HfO2 which indicates that the valence bands of the two oxides are nearly aligned. This significant downshift of the conduction band due to Ti incorporation leads to low barriers for electrons at the interfaces of HfxTi1−xO2 with Si and Al (∼1 eV or less) strongly impairing insulating properties of the oxide. Crystallization of TiO2 upon high-temperature annealing further enhances leakage currents because of a significantly lower band-gap width of crystallized TiO2...

Charge state of paramagnetic E ' centre in thermal SiO2 layers on silicon

Comparison between the densities of positive charge and paramagnetic E´ centres (O3 Si defects) generated in thermal SiO2 layers on Si by 10 eV photons at different electric field strengths in the oxide demonstrates that the paramagnetic states cannot be associated with positively charged centres, i.e., the E´ centre is neutral. The variation in E´ density results from the balance between activation by irradiation and passivation with radiolytic hydrogen. Therefore, the neutral diamagnetic state of the defect is ascribed to the O3 Si-H fragment in the SiO2 network, which is converted into an E´ centre by radiation-induced hydrogen cracking.