Y-doped HfO2 deposited by atomic layer deposition using a cocktail precursor for DRAM capacitor dielectric application

Abstract A Y-doped HfO2 thin film deposited using a cocktail precursor for a DRAM capacitor dielectric application was investigated. It has been difficult to adapt HfO2, a potential high-dielectric-constant material, deposited by a typical thin-film deposition technique to actual devices owing to its low dielectric constant of approximately 20, resulting from its monoclinic-phase crystal structure. Although several methods have been investigated to increase the dielectric constant by crystal structure transformation to the tetragonal phase, which has a dielectric constant as high as approximately 40, the formation of the monoclinic phase was not successfully suppressed. In this study, the tetragonal-phase formation of HfO2 thin films was investigated using a cocktail precursor consisting of Y and Hf precursors. The monoclinic formation suppression mechanism in the Y-doped HfO2 thin film was determined from the physical and chemical analyses results. Moreover, the leakage current change caused by the introduced oxygen vacancy with respect to the Y dopant concentration was investigated. Improved electrical properties of the dielectric constant and leakage current were achieved with Y-doped HfO2.