Channel mobility degradation and charge trapping in high-k/metal gate NMOSFETs

NMOSFETs with Metalo-Organic Chemical Vapor Deposited (MOCVD) HfAlO gate dielectric and TiN metal gate have been fabricated. Channel electron mobility was measured using the split-CV method and compared with SiO 2 devices. All high-k devices showed lower mobility compared with SiO 2 reference devices. High-k MOSFETs exhibited significant charge trapping and threshold instability. Threshold voltage recovery with time was studied on devices with oxide/nitride interfacial layer between high-k film and silicon substrate.