Impact of process optimizations on the electrical performance of high-k layers deposited by aqueous chemical solution deposition

Alternative high-k materials are being researched for future dielectrics in various complementary metal oxide semiconductor applications. We report on the aqueous chemical solution deposition technique as an alternative material screening technique. We used ZrO2 as a reference material to explore the effect of different process parameters on the electrical performance of Pt-dot capacitors. We studied the effects of varying the molar ratio between citric acid and the Zr ions, as well as the conditions of the oxidizing postdeposition anneal. We found that proper optimization of these parameters can significantly reduce the amount of carbon in the layers and enhance the electrical performance of the films to similar levels as atomic layer deposition. (C) 2008 The Electrochemical Society.