Current conduction of 0.72 nm equivalent-oxide-thickness LaO/HfO2 stacked gate dielectrics

Abstract

Metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitors (MOSCs) incorporating atomic layer deposited (ALD) LaO/HfO2 stacked gate dielectrics were fabricated, where the equivalent oxide thickness (EOT) of the high-k dielectrics is only 0.72 nm and the gate leakage (Jg) is as low as 6.8×10−2 A/cm2. Based on the analysis of the temperature dependence of the gate leakage current from 300 to 500 K, the main current conduction is found to be Schottky emission or Poole–Frankel emission. Moreover, the barrier height (ΦB) at TaC and HfLaO interface is estimated to be about 1.21 eV, and the trap energy level (Φt) is about 0.51 eV.