Evolution of leakage paths in HfO2∕SiO2 stacked gate dielectrics: A stable direct observation by ultrahigh vacuum conducting atomic force microscopy

A conducting atomic force microscopy (C-AFM) in ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) is used to directly observe the evolution of leakage path in HfO2∕SiO2 stacked gate dielectrics. Thanks to the UHV environment, reproducible results for both positive and negative tip biases are obtained without material formatio...

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Veröffentlicht in:Applied physics letters 2005-02, Vol.86 (6)
Hauptverfasser: Kyuno, K., Kita, K., Toriumi, A.
Format: Artikel
Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:A conducting atomic force microscopy (C-AFM) in ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) is used to directly observe the evolution of leakage path in HfO2∕SiO2 stacked gate dielectrics. Thanks to the UHV environment, reproducible results for both positive and negative tip biases are obtained without material formation on the surface, which has been a problem for atmospheric C-AFM. It is found that the density of leakage spots increases exponentially as a function of tip bias and that it is a large factor for leakage current increase.
ISSN:0003-6951
1077-3118
DOI:10.1063/1.1862779