STUDY OF SPUTTERED HFO2 THIN-FILMS ON SILICON

Thin HfO2 films were deposited on Si(100) wafers by magnetron sputtering, followed by a high temperature anneal in oxygen. Structure evolution and/or allotropic transformation occurred during the annealing process. A very thin well-defined SiO2 layer was also formed at the HfO2-Si interface as a result of annealing. The HfO2/SiO2 film showed a high dielectric constant, very low leakage current, extremely high dielectric strength, low dielectric loss, well-behaved capacitance-voltage characteristics and good stability, making it a viable candidate for applications in very-large-scale and ultralarge-scale integration circuits.