Influences of surface reconstruction on the atomic-layer-deposited HfO2/Al2O3/n-InAs metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitors

We report the characteristics of HfO2/Al2O3/n-InAs metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitors on different reconstructed surface InAs substrates. The HfO2/Al2O3 gate dielectric films deposited on InAs were used to study the interfacial reaction. Compared with (2 x 4)-surface sample, improvements of capacitance-voltage characteristics for (1 x 1)-surface sample with lower frequency-dependent capacitance dispersion and higher inversion capacitance are attributed to lower indium composition and less arsenic oxide at Al2O3/InAs interface, as confirmed by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. It indicates that the equivalent dangling bond of cations and anions on (1 x 1)-surface sample tends to avoid the oxidization process and become less pinning. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3571293]