A crystalline oxide passivation on In0.53Ga0.47As (100)

The passivation of In0.53Ga0.47As surfaces is highly desired for transistor performance. In this study, the feasibility of a crystalline oxide passivation on In0.53Ga0.47As (100) is demonstrated experimentally. The (3 × 1) and (3 × 2) crystalline oxide reconstructions are formed on the de-capped In0.53Ga0.47As (100) surfaces through the control of the surface oxidation states. By monitoring the evolution of chemical states and associated structures of the In0.53Ga0.47As (100) surfaces upon O2 and subsequent atomic hydrogen exposure, we find that the control of the Ga oxide states is critical to the formation of the crystalline oxide reconstructions. The stability of the crystalline oxide layers upon the atomic layer deposition of HfO2 is investigated as well. Furthermore, the capacitance voltage behavior of metal oxide semiconductor capacitors with an HfO2 dielectric layer reveals that the crystalline oxide reconstructions result in a decrease in the density of interface traps (Dit ) from ∼1 × 1013 cm−2 eV−1 to ∼1 × 1012 cm−2 eV−1 compared with the de-capped surface. The crystalline oxide passivation offers a platform to develop In0.53Ga0.47As devices with a low density of interface states.