Ultrathin HfO[sub 2] Films Treated by Xenon Flash Lamp Annealing for Use as Transistor Gate Dielectric Replacements

Abstract

The structural and the electrical properties of gate dielectrics, treated using a xenon flash-lamp-annealing (FLA) technology have been studied for replacement metal gate transistors. Samples were exposed to a xenon flash with a pulse width using preheating at in a atmosphere. The energy density of the radiation was proportional to the capacitor charging voltage, which was varied from . At these energies, it was thought that the silicon substrate could be effectively heated by the xenon flash lamp. Equivalent oxide thickness values were decreased by about 5% during FLA treatments on the samples having the same starting film thickness, because the films were crystallized at capacitor charging voltages above . Leakage current densities were almost the same with and without FLA treatments.