Effects of N[sub 2] RPN on the Structural and Electrical Characteristics of Remote Plasma Atomic Layer-Deposited HfO[sub 2] Films

The effect of remote plasma nitridation (RPN) pretreatment on the structural and electrical characteristics of remote plasma atomic layer-deposited films was investigated. An atomic change in the nitrogen's partial local coordination structure in the vicinity of Hf-O-Si was closely associated with the structural and electrical characteristics of the films. The film pretreated with RPN retained its amorphous structure after rapid thermal annealing at 600°C for 30 s. The RPN pretreated- film also showed significant enhancement of the gate capacitance and retained low leakage current densities ( at ).