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Anders Mikkelsen. Portrait.

Anders Mikkelsen

Professor

Anders Mikkelsen. Portrait.

InAs-oxide interface composition and stability upon thermal oxidation and high-k atomic layer deposition

Author

  • Andrea Troian
  • Johan V. Knutsson
  • Sarah R. McKibbin
  • Sofie Yngman
  • Aein S. Babadi
  • Lars Erik Wernersson
  • Anders Mikkelsen
  • Rainer Timm

Summary, in English

Defects at the interface between InAs and a native or high permittivity oxide layer are one of the main challenges for realizing III-V semiconductor based metal oxide semiconductor structures with superior device performance. Here we passivate the InAs(100) substrate by removing the native oxide via annealing in ultra-high vacuum (UHV) under a flux of atomic hydrogen and growing a stoichiometry controlled oxide (thermal oxide) in UHV, prior to atomic layer deposition (ALD) of an Al2O3 high-k layer. The semiconductor-oxide interfacial stoichiometry and surface morphology are investigated by synchrotron based X-ray photoemission spectroscopy, scanning tunneling microscopy, and low energy electron diffraction. After thermal oxide growth, we find a thin non-crystalline layer with a flat surface structure. Importantly, the InAs-oxide interface shows a significantly decreased amount of In3+, As5+, and As0 components, which can be correlated to electrically detrimental defects. Capacitance-voltage measurements confirm a decrease of the interface trap density in gate stacks including the thermal oxide as compared to reference samples. This makes the concept of a thermal oxide layer prior to ALD promising for improving device performance if this thermal oxide layer can be stabilized upon exposure to ambient air.

Department/s

  • Synchrotron Radiation Research
  • NanoLund: Centre for Nanoscience
  • Solid State Physics
  • Nano Electronics

Publishing year

2018-12-01

Language

English

Publication/Series

AIP Advances

Volume

8

Issue

12

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

American Institute of Physics (AIP)

Topic

  • Materials Engineering
  • Condensed Matter Physics (including Material Physics, Nano Physics)

Status

Published

Research group

  • Nano Electronics

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 2158-3226