Atomic beam deposition of lanthanum- and yttrium-based oxide thin films for gate dielectrics

We report on the electrical and microstructural characteristics of La- and Y-based oxides grown on silicon substrates by ultrahigh vacuum atomic beam deposition, in order to examine their potential as alternate gate dielectrics for Si complementary metal oxide semiconductor technology. We have examined the issues of polycrystallinity and interfacial silicon oxide formation in these films and their effect on the leakage currents and the ability to deposit films with low electrical thickness. We observe that polycrystallinity in the films does not result in unacceptably high leakage currents. We show significant Si penetration in both types of films. We find that the interfacial SiO2 is much thicker at similar to 1.5 nm for the Y-based oxide compared to the La-based oxide where the thickness is < 0.5 nm. We also show that while the Y-based oxide films show excellent electrical properties, the La based films exhibit a large flat band voltage shift indicative of positive charge in the films. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(00)05143-3].