The impact of ultrathin Al2O3 films on the electrical response of p-Ge/Al2O3/HfO2/Au MOS structures

It is well known that the most critical issue in Ge CMOS technology is the successful growth of high-k gate dielectrics on Ge substrates. The high interface quality of Ge/high-k dielectric is connected with advanced electrical responses of Ge based MOS devices. Following this trend, atomic layer deposition deposited ultrathin Al2O3 and HfO2 films were grown on p-Ge. Al2O3 acts as a passivation layer between p-Ge and high-k HfO2 films. An extensive set of p-Ge/Al2O3/HfO2 structures were fabricated with Al2O3 thickness ranging from 0.5 nm to 1.5 nm and HfO2 thickness varying from 2.0 nm to 3.0 nm. All structures were characterized by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and AFM. XPS analysis revealed the stoichiometric growth of both films in the absence of Ge sub-oxides between p-Ge and Al2O3 films. AFM analysis revealed the growth of smooth and cohesive films, which exhibited minimal roughness (similar to 0.2 nm) comparable to that of clean bare p-Ge surfaces. The electrical response of all structures was analyzed by C-V, G-V, C-f, G-f and J-V characteristics, from 80 K to 300 K. It is found that the incorporation of ultrathin Al2O3 passivation layers between p-Ge and HfO2 films leads to superior electrical responses of the structures. All structures exhibit well defined C-V curves with parasitic effects, gradually diminishing and becoming absent below 170 K. D-it values were calculated at each temperature, using both Hill-Coleman and Conductance methods. Structures of p-Ge/0.5 nm Al2O3/2.0 nm HfO2/Au, with an equivalent oxide thickness (EOT) equal to 1.3 nm, exhibit D-it values as low as similar to 7.4 x 10(10) eV(-1) cm(-2). To our knowledge, these values are among the lowest reported. J-V measurements reveal leakage currents in the order of 10(-1) A cm(-2), which are comparable to previously published results for structures with the same EOT. A complete mapping of the energy distribution of D-its into the energy bandgap of p-Ge, from the valence band towards midgap, is also reported. These promising results contribute to the challenge of switching to high-k dielectrics as gate materials for future high-performance metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors based on Ge substrates. Making the switch to such devices would allow us toexploit its superior properties.