Stoichiometric, uniform, amorphous ZrO$_2$ films with an equivalent oxide thickness of ∼1.5nm and a dielectric constant of ∼18 were deposited by an atomic layer controlled deposition process on silicon for potential application in meta-oxide-semic...
Stoichiometric, uniform, amorphous ZrO$_2$ films with an equivalent oxide thickness of ∼1.5nm and a dielectric constant of ∼18 were deposited by an atomic layer controlled deposition process on silicon for potential application in meta-oxide-semiconductor(MOS) devices. The conduction mechanism is identified as Schottky emission at low electric fields and as Poole-Frenkel emission at high electric fields. the MOS devices showed low leakage current, small hysteresis(〈50mV), and low interface state density(∼2*10e11/cm2eV). Microdiffraction and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy showed a localized monoclinic phase of ${\alpha}$-ZrO$_2$ and an amorphous interfacial ZrSi$\_$x/O$\_$y/ layer which has a correspondign dielectric constant of 11