The Formation and Characterisation of Lanthanum Oxide Based Si/High-k/NiSi Gate Stacks by Electron-Beam Evaporation: An Examination of In-Situ Amorphous Silicon Capping and NiSi formation

The electrical and physical properties of La2O3 based NiSi/High-k/Si structures formed by electron beam evaporation, in-situ amorphous silicon capping and ex-situ NiSi formation are presented for the (100) and (110)Si substrate orientations. The silicon substrate orientation, (100) or (110), does not affect leakage current density or the maximum accumulation capacitance, but does have an impact on interface state densities. The interface states exhibit the electrical signature of Pbo centres for the (100)Si orientation and can be annealed in a H2/N2 ambient. The samples exhibit negligible hysteresis (