• Yngman, Sofie
• Wernersson, Lars Erik
• Mikkelsen, Anders
• Mckibbin, Sarah
• Knutsson, Johan V.
• Troian, Andrea
• Timm, Rainer
• Babadi, Aein S.

Abstract

<p>Defects at the interface between InAs and a native or high permittivity oxide layer are one of the main challenges for realizing III-V semiconductor based metal oxide semiconductor structures with superior device performance. Here we passivate the InAs(100) substrate by removing the native oxide via annealing in ultra-high vacuum (UHV) under a flux of atomic hydrogen and growing a stoichiometry controlled oxide (thermal oxide) in UHV, prior to atomic layer deposition (ALD) of an Al₂O₃ high-k layer. The semiconductor-oxide interfacial stoichiometry and surface morphology are investigated by synchrotron based X-ray photoemission spectroscopy, scanning tunneling microscopy, and low energy electron diffraction. After thermal oxide growth, we find a thin non-crystalline layer with a flat surface structure. Importantly, the InAs-oxide interface shows a significantly decreased amount of In³⁺, As⁵⁺, and As⁰ components, which can be correlated to electrically detrimental defects. Capacitance-voltage measurements confirm a decrease of the interface trap density in gate stacks including the thermal oxide as compared to reference samples. This makes the concept of a thermal oxide layer prior to ALD promising for improving device performance if this thermal oxide layer can be stabilized upon exposure to ambient air.</p>

Topics

• density
• morphology
• surface
• Hydrogen
• defect
• annealing
• low energy electron diffraction
• scanning tunneling microscopy
• atomic layer deposition
• spectroscopy
• III-V semiconductor