Extensive Analysis on the Effects of Post-Deposition Annealing for ALD-Deposited Al₂O₃ on an n-Type Silicon Substrate

In this study, an investigation was performed on the properties of atomic-layer-deposited aluminum oxide (Al₂O₃) on an n-type silicon (n-Si) substrate based on the effect of post-deposition heat treatment, which was speckled according to ambient temperature and treatment applied time. Based on these dealings, a series of distinctions for extracted capacitance and dielectric constant, hysteresis was performed on annealed and nonannealed samples. The interface and border trap responses, including stress behavior after an application of constant voltage for a specific time and surface morphology by X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique, were also analyzed between the two above-mentioned sample types. Based on observation, the annealed samples showed superior performance in every aspect compared with the nonannealed ones. Some unusual behaviors after high annealing temperature were found, and the explanation is the ion diffusion from oxide layer towards the semiconductor. Since a constant voltage stress was not widely used on the metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitor (MOSCAP), this analysis was determined to reveal a new dimension of post-deposition annealing condition for the Al/Al₂O₃/n-Si gate stack.