Effects of Low Temperature O2 Treatment on the Electrical Properties of Amorphous LaAlO3 Films Made by Atomic Layer Deposition

Amorphous LaAlO3 films were deposited on hydrogen-terminated silicon substrates by atomic layer deposition (ALD) at 300 o C. The precursors were lanthanum tris(N,N’-diisopropylformamidinate), trimethylaluminum (TMA) and water. Capacitance-voltage measurements made on ALD MoN/LaAlO3/Si stacks showed humps especially at low frequencies. They were effectively removed by O2 treatment at 300 o C without affecting the dielectric constant (κ~15). The O2 treatment can be carried out either after deposition of a LaAlO3 film, or after each ALD cycle. The O2 treatment also lowered the leakage current from 80 mA cm to 1 mA cm for EOT = 1.3 nm. This indicates that oxygen vacancies are the main defects in as-deposited LaAlO3. Oxygen treated LaAlO3 is one of the best candidates for future high-κ dielectric material due to its low leakage, low defect density and abrupt interface with silicon.