The effect of aluminum oxide incorporation on the material and electrical properties of hafnium oxide on Ge

Abstract

Hafnium aluminate thin films were synthesized by atomic layer deposition (ALD) to assess the effect of aluminum oxide incorporation on the dielectric/Ge interfacial properties. In these HfxAlyOz thin films, the Hf to Al cation ratio was effectively controlled by changing the ratio of hafnium oxide to aluminum oxide ALD cycles, while their short range order was changed upon increasing aluminum oxide incorporation, as observed by extended x-ray absorption fine structure analysis. The incorporation of aluminum oxide was shown to improve the electrical characteristics of hafnium oxide/Ge devices, including lower interface state densities and leakage current densities.