An improvement of HfO2/Ge interface by in situ remote N2 plasma pretreatment for Ge MOS devices

In situ remote N2 plasma pretreatment of Ge substrate before deposition of HfO2 is proved effective to reduce GeOx interlayer at the HfO2/Ge interface, resulting in a smaller capacitance equivalent oxide thickness, lower interface trap density and leakage current density for the metal/HfO2/n-Ge capacitors. However, it has no obvious impact on the metal/HfO2/p-Ge capacitors, showing a much higher interface trap density than that on n-Ge. The high equivalent permittivity of the HfO2 gate stacks (~24.2) confirmed the removal of GeOx interlayer by N2 plasma pretreatment. In situ remote N2 plasma pretreatment is demonstrated perspective to make metal/HfO2/n-Ge MOSFET with scaling capacitance equivalent oxide thickness.