Ultrathin silicon dioxide layers with a low leakage current density formed by chemical oxidation of Si

Chemical oxidation of Si by use of azeotrope of nitric acid and water can form 1.4-nm-thick silicon dioxide layers with a leakage current density as low as those of thermally grown SiO2 layers. The capacitance–voltage (C–V) curves for these ultrathin chemical SiO2 layers have been measured due to the low leakage current density. The leakage current density is further decreased to ∼1/5 (cf. 0.4 A/cm2 at the forward gate bias of 1 V) by post-metallization annealing at 200 °C in hydrogen. Photoelectron spectroscopy and C–V measurements show that this decrease results from (i) increase in the energy discontinuity at the Si/SiO2 interface, and (ii) elimination of Si/SiO2 interface states and SiO2 gap states.