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) |
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Hauptverfasser: | , , |
Format: | Artikel |
Sprache: | eng |
Online-Zugang: | Volltext |
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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. |
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ISSN: | 0003-6951 1077-3118 |
DOI: | 10.1063/1.1862779 |