III–V gate stack interface improvement to enable high mobility 11nm node CMOS

We report significant improvements in the high-k/In 0.53 Ga 0.47 As interface quality by controlling atomic layer deposition (ALD) oxidizer chemistry. A step-by-step correlation between electrical data and chemical reactions at the high-k/InGaAs interface has been established using synchrotron photoemission. AsO x , GaO x , and In 2 O 3 formed during unintentional ALD surface oxidation and the increase of As-As bonds are responsible for degrading device quality. A better quality H 2 O-based high-k gate stack is evidenced by less capacitance-voltage (CV) dispersion (14% in ZrO 2 ), smaller CV hysteresis (37% in Al 2 O 3 and 47% in ZrO 2 ), fewer border traps (Q br ) (96% in Al 2 O 3 and 25% in ZrO 2 ), and lower mean interface traps density (D it ) (91% in Al 2 O 3 and 29% in ZrO 2 ). Improvements in I d and G m therefore have been achieved by replacing O 3 with H 2 O oxidizer. Our work suggests that H 2 O-based high-k is more promising than O 3 -based high-k. These results positively impact the industry's progress toward III–V CMOS at the 11nm node.