Rapid thermal annealing effect on crystalline yttria-stabilized zirconia gate dielectrics

Crystalline yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) gate dielectrics have been successfully fabricated on silicon wafers. By carefully controlling the annealing condition, the crystalline YSZ gate dielectrics show promising performances following the rapid thermal annealing process. The equivalent electrical oxide thickness only increases about 2.0 Å after annealing in O2 gas, while the leakage current decreases by more than two orders of magnitude compared with that of as-deposited samples. The results indicate that zirconia is potentially an alternative gate dielectrics for application in present silicon-based technology.