(Invited) Leakage Current Reduction in ALD-Al2O3 Dielectric Deposited on Si by High Pressure Deuterium Oxide Annealing

This paper reports an effect of post annealing technique for the deposited dielectric films utilizing high pressure deuterium oxide. Al 2 O 3 deposited on Si thermal oxide film by plasma-assisted atomic layer deposition (PA-ALD), which can have the advantage of low temperature process. For reforming qualities of the ALD–Al 2 O 3 , high pressure deuterium oxide annealing (HPDOA) was carried out at 0.3 MPa for 60 min while keeping at 300ºC. The leakage current and the breakdown field of metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) diodes with the Al 2 O 3 gate dielectrics were improved by the HPDOA treatment. The HPDOA is found to be useful for reforming the Al 2 O 3 thin film even if it was deposited by PA-ALD.