Preparation of Hf-Si-O films by simultaneous deposition and reaction process using pulsed ion-beam evaporation

A pulsed ion-beam evaporation method (IBE) has been applied to prepare hafnium silicate (Hf-Si-O) thin film which is one of the promising gate dielectrics for metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) transistor instead of SiO 2. Here, IBE has the potential to make films containing fewer impurities due to the ablation of pure hafnium oxide (HfO2) targets in vacuum, while the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) precursor leaves its constituents in the films. From microstructural observation, the thin film consists of an upper layer and a lower layer. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyses reveal that the upper layer is polycrystalline HfO2 and that the lower layer is amorphous hafnium silicate. It may be understood that the hot Hf-O plasma impinging on the Si substrate resulted in the reaction of Si and Hf-O to prepare the Hf-Si-O thin film. The energy from the intense pulsed ion beam makes it possible to induce such a surface reaction. The film has been found to have a uniform distribution of Hf and O in the depth. Impurity content such as carbon incorporated from the environment into the film is lower than the detection limit of XPS. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.