Unusual ALD Behaviors in Functional Oxide Films for Semiconductor Memories

Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is known for its self-limiting reaction, which offers atomic-level controllability of the growth of thin films for a wide range of applications. The self-limiting mechanism leads to very useful properties, such as excellent uniformity over a large area and superior conformality on complex structures. These unique features of ALD provide promising opportunities for future electronics. Although the ALD of Al2O3 film (using trimethyl-aluminum and water as a metal precursor and oxygen source, respectively) can be regarded as a representative example of an ideal ALD based on the completely self-limiting reaction, there are many cases deviating from the ideal ALD reaction in recently developed ALD processes. The nonconventional aspects of the ALD reactions may strongly influence the various properties of the functional materials grown by ALD, and the lack of comprehension of these aspects has made ALD difficult to control. In this respect, several dominant factors that complicate ALD reactions, including the types of metal precursors, non-metal precursors (oxygen sources or reducing agents), and substrates, will be discussed in this presentation. Several functional materials for future electronics, such as higher-k dielectrics (TiO2, SrTiO3) for DRAM application, and resistive switching materials (NiO) for RRAM application, will be addressed in this talk. Unwanted supply of oxygen atoms from the substrate or other component oxide to the incoming precursors during the precursor pulse step, and outward diffusion of substrate atoms to the growing film surface even during the steady-state growth influenced the growth, crystal structure, and properties of the various films.