Thermal stability of TiN metal gate prepared by atomic layer deposition or physical vapor deposition on HfO2 high-K dielectric

In this paper, the thermal stability of TiN metal gate with various composition prepared by different preparation technology [(e.g., atomic layer deposition (ALD) or physical vapor deposition (PVD)] on HfO2 high-K dielectric is investigated and compared by physical and electrical analysis. After annealing of the TiN/HfO2 stack at 1000 degrees C for 30 s, it is observed that: (1) Nitrogen tends to out-diffuse from TiN for all the samples; (2) Oxygen from the interfacial layer (IL) between HfO2 and Si tends to diffuse toward TiN. PVD Ti-rich TiN shows a wider oxygen distribution in the gate stack, and a thinner IL than the N-rich sample. Ti penetration into HfO2 is also observed in the Ti-rich sample, which can potentially lead to the dielectric break-down. Besides, the oxygen out-diffusion can be significantly suppressed for ALD TiN compared to the PVD TiN samples.