The chemical and electronic structures of YOxNy on Si(100)

Effects of nitrogen incorporation on interfacial property, band gap, and band alignments of high-k Y2O3 gate dielectrics have been investigated. It was found that the incorporation of nitrogen into Y2O3 films can effectively suppress the growth of the interfacial layer between Y2O3 and Si substrate. The incorporation of nitrogen into Y2O3 films leads to the reduction of band gap and valence band offset, but not the conduction offset of Y2O3 films. High temperature annealing will help to increase the band gap and valence band offset of YOxNy film due to the release of the interstitial N atoms.