ZrO2 and HfO2 dielectrics on (001) n-InAs with atomic-layer-deposited in situ surface treatment

The electrical properties of ZrO2 and HfO2 gate dielectrics on n-InAs were evaluated. Particularly, an in situ surface treatment method including cyclic nitrogen plasma and trimethylaluminum pulses was used to improve the quality of the high-j oxides. The quality of the InAs-oxide interface was evaluated with a full equivalent circuit model developed for narrow band gap metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) capacitors. Capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurements exhibit a total trap density profile with a minimum of 1 x 10(12) cm(-2) eV(-1) and 4 x 10(12) cm(-2) eV(-1) for ZrO2 and HfO2, respectively, both of which are comparable to the best values reported for high-j/ III-V devices. Our simulations showed that the measured capacitance is to a large extent affected by the border trap response suggesting a very low density of interface traps. Charge trapping in MOS structures was also investigated using the hysteresis in the C-V measurements. The experimental results demonstrated that the magnitude of the hysteresis increases with increase in accumulation voltage, indicating an increase in the charge trapping response. (C) 2016 AIP Publishing LLC.