Thermally induced Zr incorporation into Si from zirconium silicate thin films

Monochromatic x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry, and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry are used to study the outdiffusion of Zr from the alternate gate dielectric candidate ZrSixOy thin films deposited on Si(100). We find that Zr incorporation into Si from ZrSixOy appears to occur at annealing temperatures higher than 1000 °C. Incorporation of Zr to depths of up to 23 nm into the silicon substrate is observed. A diffusion coefficient of D0∼2×10−15 cm2/s is estimated from the associated depth profiles.