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Nanofabrication of Gate-defined GaAs/AlGaAs Lateral Quantum Dots
Published on: November 1, 2013
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Temperature Dependent Border Trap Response Produced by a Defective Interfacial Oxide Layer in Al2O3/InGaAs Gate
Kechao Tang1, Andrew C Meng1, Ravi Droopad2
1Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University , Stanford, California 94305, United States.
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
|November 1, 2016
Summary
Adding water during atomic layer deposition (ALD) of aluminum oxide on InGaAs creates a defective interfacial layer. This layer increases interface traps and alters border trap responses, impacting metal-oxide-semiconductor device performance.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Semiconductor Physics
- Surface Chemistry
Background:
- Indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs) is a crucial III-V semiconductor for advanced electronics.
- Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is a key technique for depositing high-quality gate dielectrics.
- Controlling the InGaAs/dielectric interface is vital for device performance.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of intentional oxidation during Al2O3 ALD on InGaAs.
- To characterize the resulting interface properties and their effect on device performance.
- To understand the role of processing-induced interfacial layers in metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) structures.
Main Methods:
- Atomic layer deposition (ALD) of Al2O3 with and without additional H2O dosing.
- X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) for chemical analysis.
- Aberration-corrected high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) for structural analysis.
- Capacitance-voltage (C-V) and conductance-voltage (G-V) measurements at various temperatures to study interface traps.
Main Results:
- Additional H2O dosing during Al2O3 ALD formed an amorphous interfacial layer and Ga-oxide.
- This processing increased interface trap density (Dit) and reduced photoluminescence (PL) intensity.
- A temperature-dependent border trap response was observed, correlated with the interfacial layer, showing significant dispersion changes at low temperatures.
- Abrupt interfaces exhibited minimal temperature-dependent dispersion.
Conclusions:
- Intentional oxidation during ALD creates detrimental interfacial layers on InGaAs.
- These layers significantly influence the electrical characteristics of MOS devices, particularly border trap behavior.
- The temperature dependence of border traps is a sensitive indicator of processing-induced interfacial defects in III-V MOS gate stacks.
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