Impact of La2O3 interfacial layers on InGaAs metal-oxide-semiconductor interface properties in Al2O3/La2O3/InGaAs gate stacks deposited by atomic-layer-deposition

Abstract

We examine the electrical properties of atomic layer deposition (ALD) La2O3/InGaAs and Al2O3/La2O3/InGaAs metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) capacitors. It is found that the thick ALD La2O3/InGaAs interface provides low interface state density (Dit) with the minimum value of ∼3 × 1011 cm−2 eV−1, which is attributable to the excellent La2O3 passivation effect for InGaAs surfaces. It is observed, on the other hand, that there are a large amount of slow traps and border traps in La2O3. In order to simultaneously satisfy low Dit and small hysteresis, the effectiveness of Al2O3/La2O3/InGaAs gate stacks with ultrathin La2O3 interfacial layers is in addition evaluated. The reduction of the La2O3 thickness to 0.4 nm in Al2O3/La2O3/InGaAs gate stacks leads to the decrease in hysteresis. On the other hand, Dit of the Al2O3/La2O3/InGaAs interfaces becomes higher than that of the La2O3/InGaAs ones, attributable to the diffusion of Al2O3 through La2O3 into InGaAs and resulting modification of the La2O3/InGaAs interface structure. As a result of the effective passivation effect of La2O3 on InGaAs, however, the Al2O3/10 cycle (0.4 nm) La2O3/InGaAs gate stacks can realize still lower Dit with maintaining small hysteresis and low leakage current than the conventional Al2O3/InGaAs MOS interfaces.