Local epitaxial growth of ZrO2 on Ge (100) substrates by atomic layer epitaxy

High-k dielectric deposition processes for gate dielectric preparation on Si surfaces usually result in the unavoidable and uncontrolled formation of a thin interfacial oxide layer. Atomic layer deposition of ∼55-Å ZrO2 film on a Ge (100) substrate using ZrCl4 and H2O at 300 °C was found to produce local epitaxial growth [(001) Ge//(001) ZrO2 and [100] Ge//[100] ZrO2] without a distinct interfacial layer, unlike the situation observed when ZrO2 is deposited using the same method on Si. Relatively large lattice mismatch (∼10%) between ZrO2 and Ge produced a high areal density of interfacial misfit dislocations. Large hysteresis (>200 mV) and high frequency dispersion were observed in capacitance–voltage measurements due to the high density of interface states. However, a low leakage current density, comparable to values obtained on Si substrates, was observed with the same capacitance density regardless of the high defect density.