Effects of Aluminum and Nitrogen Profile Control on Electrical Properties of HfAlON Gate Dielectric MOSFETs

1. Introduction HfAlON has been expected as a candidate of the gate insulators for low power and low stand-by power CMOS. An incorporation of an Al 2 O 3 layer into HfO 2 offers advantages of increasing the band-offset [1] and the higher crystallization temperature, while it gives rise to V TH (V FB) shift [2] and deteriorates the mobility [3]. In addition, an excess amount of nitrogen incorporation in order to further increase the crystallization temperature of HfAlON degrades the gate leakage current J g [4]. This paper reports a significance of controlling aluminum and nitrogen profiles in HfAlON dielectric layers, based on the fact that appropriate aluminum and nitrogen profiles enable to achieve higher mobility and lower J g with keeping EOT unchanged.