Deposition & Defect Characterization of High K Material



	Deposition & Defect Characterization of High K Material

	John Conley Sharp

	Overcoming the pessimism that prevailed a year ago, recent announcements indicate that the industry will be implementing some form of high-k by the 65 nm node in 2007. Despite this new optimism, several problems still remain, such as charge trapping induced Vt instability, mobility degradation, and reliability. Are these problems intrinsic to these systems (uncontrollable) or due to point defects (perhaps controllable)? The root causes are still poorly understood. The focus of this part of the tutorial will be primarily on HfO₂ and atomic layer deposition. A brief review of the materials physics of high-k films will be included. Aspects of deposition, material, and interfacial issues will be also be addressed. Recent work being done to identify atomic scale defects and their roles in high-k thin film / Si systems will be reviewed. For comparison, some references will be made to the current understanding in SiO₂.
John F. Conley, Jr. is a senior member of the technical staff at Sharp Labs of America, where his research interests include advanced gate stacks, atomic layer deposited high-k dielectrics, and optoelectronic applications of nanostructured materials. He received his B.S. in electrical engineering (1991) and his Ph.D. in engineering science and mechanics (1995) from The Pennsylvania State University where he won a Xerox Prize (1996) for his Ph.D. dissertation. Dr. Conley has authored or co-authored over 70 technical papers and 80 conference presentations and has one U.S. patent with five pending. Currently the vice-technical program chair of the IEEE Integrated Reliability Workshop, he has also served on the technical committees of the IRPS, the SOI Conference, and the Nuclear and Space Radiation Effects Conference, and was technical program chair of the 2000 IEEE Microelectronics Reliability and Qualification Workshop. Dr. Conley has also worked at Dynamics Research Corporation ('95-'00) and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory ('00-'01) where he received an achievement award and his research interests included radiation effects. He has also served as an adjunct professor at WSU-Vancouver.