Enhanced Electrical Properties of Atomic Layer Deposited La(x)Al(y)O Thin Films with Stress Relieved Preoxide Pretreatment

The impact of stress relieved preoxide (SRPO) interface engineering on the physical and electrical properties of La(x)Al(y)O films was investigated. It was proved that the SRPO pretreatment has little influence on the surface morphology of La(x)Al(y)O films and the chemical bond composition of La(x)Al(y)O/Si interface. However, the SRPO pretreated MIS capacitor displayed obvious improvement in decreasing the amount of trapped oxide charges and interfacial traps. As a result, a reduction of more than one order of magnitude in the gate leakage current density was obtained. The breakdown field strength and TDDB reliability of the La(x)Al(y)O film treated with SRPO were also enhanced.