Ultra-Thin High Quality Silicon Nitride Gate Dielectrics Prepared by Catalytic Chemical Vapor Deposition at Low Temperatures

This is to report the feasibility of ultra-thin silicon nitride (SiNx) films, prepared by catalytic chemical vapor deposition (Cat-CVD) method, as an ultra-thin gate insulator. In the Cat-CVD method, the deposition gases such as a gaseous mixture of silane (SiH4) and ammonia (NH 3) are decomposed by catalytic cracking reactions with a heated tungsten catalyzer placed near substrates, and SiNx films are formed at substrate temperatures around 300°C without using plasma. In the paper, additionally the effect of post-deposited treatments by using NH3-decomposed species or hydrogen (H2)-decomposed species formed by catalytic cracking of NH3 and H2 are also studied. It is found that a small hysteresis loop is seen in the C-V curve of as-deposited Cat-CVD SiNx films and that the leakage currents with thickness of 3nm equivalent oxide thickness (EOT) is slightly larger than that in the conventional thermal SiO2 of similar EOT. However, it is also found that the properties of Cat-CVD SiNx films are drastically improved by the post-deposited H2 or NH3 treatments, that is, the hysteresis loop disappears and the leakage current decreases by three orders of magnitude.