Reliability of SiO2 and high-k gate insulators: A nanoscale study with conductive atomic force microscopy

✍ Scribed by M. Porti; L. Aguilera; X. Blasco; M. Nafrı´a; X. Aymerich

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2007
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 357 KB
• Volume: 84
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0167-9317
• DOI: 10.1016/j.mee.2006.10.073

✦ Synopsis

In this work, a conductive atomic force microscope (C-AFM) is used to study the reliability (degradation and breakdown, BD) of SiO 2 and high-k dielectrics. The effect of a current limit on the post-BD SiO 2 electrical properties at the nanoscale is discussed. In particular, the impact of a current limit imposed during the stress on the post-BD oxide conductivity at the position where BD has been triggered, the area affected by the BD event and the structural damage induced in the broken down region will be investigated. A purposely developed C-AFM with enhanced electrical performance (ECAFM) is also presented, which has been used for the electrical characterization of HfO 2 /SiO 2 gate stacks. The conduction of the fresh (without stress), electrically stressed and broken down stacks have been analyzed.