(Invited) Leakage Current Reduction in ALD-Al 2 O 3 Dielectric Deposited on Si by High Pressure Deuterium Oxide Annealing

This paper reports an effect of post annealing technique for the deposited dielectric films utilizing high pressure deuterium oxide. Al 2 O 3 deposited on Si thermal oxide film by plasma-assisted atomic layer deposition (PA-ALD), which can have the advantage of low temperature process. For reforming qualities of the ALD–Al 2 O 3 , high pressure deuterium oxide annealing (HPDOA) was carried out at 0.3 MPa for 60 min while keeping at 300ºC. The leakage current and the breakdown field of metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) diodes with the Al 2 O 3 gate dielectrics were improved by the HPDOA treatment. The HPDOA is found to be useful for reforming the Al 2 O 3 thin film even if it was deposited by PA-ALD.