• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
• /
• v.15 no.3
• /
• pp.164-169
• /
• 2014

We investigated the etching characteristics of $HfAlO_3$ thin films in $O_2/Cl_2/Ar$ and $O_2/BCl_3/Ar$ gas, using a high-density plasma (HDP) system. The etch rates of the $HfAlO_3$ thin film obtained were 30.1 nm/min and 36 nm/min in the $O_2/Cl_2/Ar$ (3:4:16 sccm) and $O_2/BCl_3/Ar$ (3:4:16 sccm) gas mixtures, respectively. At the same time, the etch rate was measured as a function of the etching parameter, namely as the process pressure. The chemical states on the surface of the etched $HfAlO_3$ thin films were investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Auger electron spectroscopy was used for elemental analysis on the surface of the etched $HfAlO_3$ thin films. These surface analyses confirm that the surface of the etched $HfAlO_3$ thin film is formed with nonvolatile by-product. Also, Cl-O can protect the sidewall due to additional $O_2$.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 2016.02a
• /
• pp.304.2-304.2
• /
• 2016

Hafnium oxide-aluminum oxide (HfO2-Al2O3) dielectric films have been fabricated by Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD), and their properties are studied in comparison with HfO2 films. As a gate dielectric of the TFT, in spite of its high dielectric constant, HfO2 has a small energy band gap and microcrystalline structure with rough surface characteristics. When fabricated by the device, it has the drawback of generating a high leakage current. In this study, the HfAlO films was obtained by Pulsed Laser Deposition with HfO2-Al2O3 target(chemical composition of (HfO2)86wt%(Al2O3)14wt%). The characteristics of the thin Film have been investigated by x-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and spectroscopic ellipsometer (SE) analyses. The X-ray diffraction studies confirmed that the HfAlO has amorphous structure. The RMS value can be compared to the surface roughness via AFM analysis, it showed HfAlO thin Film has more lower properties than HfO2. The energy band gap (Eg) deduced by spectroscopic ellipsometer was increased. HfAlO films was expected to improved the interface quality between channel and gate insulator. Apply to an oxide thin Film Transistors, HfAlO may help improve the properties of device.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
• /
• v.21 no.5
• /
• pp.273-278
• /
• 2012

Over the last decade, the hafnium-based gate dielectric materials have been studied for many application fields. Because these materials had excellent behaviors for suppressing the quantum-mechanical tunneling through the thinner dielectric layer with higher dielectric constant (high-K) than $SiO_2$ gate oxides. Although high-K materials compensated the deterioration of electrical properties for decreasing the thickness of dielectric layer in MOSFET structure, their nano-mechanical properties of $HfO_2$ thin film features were hardly known. Thus, we examined nano-mechanical properties of the Hafnium oxide ($HfO_2$) thin film in order to optimize the gate dielectric layer. The $HfO_2$ thin films were deposited by rf magnetron sputter using hafnium (99.99%) target according to various oxygen gas flows. After deposition, the $HfO_2$ thin films were annealed after annealing at $400^{\circ}C$, $600^{\circ}C$ and $800^{\circ}C$ for 20 min in nitrogen ambient. From the results, the current density of $HfO_2$ thin film for 8 sccm oxygen gas flow became better performance with increasing annealing temperature. The nano-indenter and Weibull distribution were measured by a quantitative calculation of the thin film stress. The $HfO_2$ thin film after annealing at $400^{\circ}C$ had tensile stress. However, the $HfO_2$ thin film with increasing the annealing temperature up to $800^{\circ}C$ had changed compressive stress. This could be due to the nanocrystal of the $HfO_2$ thin film. In particular, the $HfO_2$ thin film after annealing at $400^{\circ}C$ had lower tensile stress, such as 5.35 GPa for the oxygen gas flow of 4 sccm and 5.54 GPa for the oxygen gas flow of 8 sccm. While the $HfO_2$ thin film after annealing at $800^{\circ}C$ had increased the stress value, such as 9.09 GPa for the oxygen gas flow of 4 sccm and 8.17 GPa for the oxygen gas flow of 8 sccm. From these results, the temperature dependence of stress state of $HfO_2$ thin films were understood.

• Electrical & Electronic Materials
• /
• v.16 no.9
• /
• pp.63.2-64
• /
• 2003

Epitaxial yttrium-stabilized HfO$_2$ thin films were deposited on p-type (100) Si substrates by pulsed laser deposition at a relatively lower substrate temperature of 550. Transmission electron microscopy observation revealed a fixed orientation relationship between the epitaxial film and Si; that is, (100)Si.(100)HfO$_2$ and [001]Si/[001]HfO$_2$. The film/Si interface is not atomically flat, suggesting possible interfacial reaction and diffusion, X-ray photoelectron spectrum analysis also revealed the interfacial reaction and diffusion evidenced by Hf silicate and Hf-Si bond formation at the interface. The epitaxial growth of the yttrium stabilized HfO$_2$ thin film on bare Si is via a direct growth mechanism without involoving the reaction between Hf atoms and SiO$_2$ layer. High-frequency capacitance-voltage measurement on an as-grown 40-A yttrium-stabilized HfO$_2$ epitaxial film yielded an dielectric constant of about 14 and equivalent oxide thickness to SiO$_2$ of 12 A. The leakage current density is 7.0${\times}$ 10e-2 A/$\textrm{cm}^2$ at 1V gate bias voltage.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
• /
• v.11 no.4
• /
• pp.166-169
• /
• 2010

In this study, we changed the etch parameters (gas mixing ratio, radio frequency [RF] power, direct current [DC]-bias voltage, and process pressure) and then monitored the effect on the $HfAlO_3$ thin film etch rate and the selectivity with $SiO_2$. A maximum etch rate of 108.7 nm/min was obtained in $Cl_2$ (3 sccm)/$BCl_3$ (4 sccm)/Ar (16 sccm) plasma. The etch selectivity of $HfAlO_3$ to $SiO_2$ reached 1.11. As the RF power and the DC-bias voltage increased, the etch rate of the $HfAlO_3$ thin film increased. As the process pressure increased, the etch rate of the $HfAlO_3$ thin films increased. The chemical state of the etched surfaces was investigated with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. According to the results, the etching of $HfAlO_3$ thin film follows the ion-assisted chemical etching.

• The Journal of the Korea institute of electronic communication sciences
• /
• v.14 no.3
• /
• pp.497-504
• /
• 2019

We fabricated $HfO_2$ thin films using RF magnetron sputtering method, and investigated structural and optical properties of $HfO_2$ thin films with RTA temperatures in $N_2$ ambient. $HfO_2$ thin films exhibited polycrystalline structure regardless of annealing process, FWHM of M (-111) showed reduction trend. The surface roughness showed the smallest of 3.454 nm at a annealing temperature of $600^{\circ}C$ in result of AFM. All $HfO_2$ thin films showed the transmittance of about 80% in visible light range. By fitting the refractive index from the transmittance and reflectance to the Sellmeir dispersion relation, we can predict the refractive index of the $HfO_2$ thin film according to the wavelength. The $HfO_2$ thin film annealed at $600^{\circ}C$ exhibited a high refractive index of 2.0223 (${\lambda}=632nm$) and an excellent packing factor of 0.963.

• 한국정보디스플레이학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2007.08b
• /
• pp.1315-1318
• /
• 2007

Hafnium dioxide nano film as gate insulator for organic thin film transistors is prepared by atomic layer deposition. Mostly crystalline of $HfO_2$ films can be obtained with oxygen plasma and with water at relatively low temperature of $150^{\circ}C$. $HfO_2$ was deposited as a uniform rate $1.2A^{\circ}/cycle$. The morphology and performances of OTFT will be discussed.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
• /
• v.13 no.2 s.39
• /
• pp.27-31
• /
• 2006

We reported the grain growth of pentacone on $HfO_2$ film depending on OTS treatment. The hydrophilic $HfO_2$ thin film was changed into hydrophobic with less interface energy by OTS treatment. The grain size of pentacene on OTS/$HfO_2$ film was increased from 50 nm to 90 nm with the variation of surface energy and the structure was maintained 3-dimensional island structure. Pentacene on OTS/$HfO_2$ surface was directionally arrayed due to appearance of the only thin film phase without bulk phase by OTS treatment.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
• /
• 2010.05a
• /
• pp.3.1-3.1
• /
• 2010

Water splitting reaction using photocatalysts is of great interest in the utilization of solar energy [1]. In the present work, visible light-responsive $TiO_2$ thin films (Vis-$TiO_2$) were prepared by a radio frequency magnetron sputtering (RF-MS) deposition method and applied for the separate evolution of $H_2$ and $O_2$ from water as well as the photofuel cell. Special attentions will be focused on the effect of HF treatment of Vis-$TiO_2$ thin films on their photocatalytic activities. Vis-$TiO_2$ thin films were prepared by an RF-MS method using a calcined $TiO_2$ plate and Ar as the sputtering gas. The Vis-$TiO_2$ thin films were then deposited on the Ti foil substrate with the substrate temperature at 873 K (Vis-$TiO_2$/Ti). Vis-$TiO_2$/Ti thin films were immersed in a 0.045 vol% HF solution at room temperature. The effect of HF treatments on the activity of Vis-$TiO_2$/Ti thin films for the photocatalytic water splitting reaction have been investigated. Vis-$TiO_2$/Ti thin films treated with HF solution (HF-Vis-$TiO_2$/Ti) exhibited remarkable enhancement in the photocatalytic activity for $H_2$ evolution from a methanol aqueous solution as well as in the photoelectrochemical performance under visible light irradiation as compared with the untreated Vis-$TiO_2$/Ti thin films. Moreover, Pt-loaded HF-Vis-$TiO_2$/Ti thin films act as efficient and stable photocatalysts for the separate evolution of $H_2$ and $O_2$ from water under visible light irradiation in the presence of chemical bias. Thus, HF treatment was found to be an effective way to improve the photocatalytic activity of Vis-$TiO_2$/Ti thin films. Furthermore, unique separate type photofuel cell was fabricated using a Vis-$TiO_2$ thin film as an electrode, which can generate electrical power under solar light irradiation by using various kinds of biomass derivatives as fuel. It was found that the introduction of an iodine ($I^-/{I_3}^-$) redox solution at the cathode side enables the development of a highly efficient photofuel cell which can utilize a cost-efficient carbon electrode as an alternative to the Pt cathode.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
• /
• v.15 no.5
• /
• pp.287-291
• /
• 2005

We have investigated and tried to improve the characteristics of the thin $HfO_2$ layer deposited by ALD for fabricating a MOSFET device where the $HfO_2$ film worked as the gate dielectric. The substrate of MOSFET device is p-type (100) silicon wafer over which the $HfO_2$ dielectric layer with thickness of $5\~6\;nm$ has been deposited. Then the $HfO_2$ film was annealed with $1\~20\;atm\;H_2$ gas and subsequently aluminum electrodes was made so that the active area was $5{\times}10^{-5}\;cm^2$. We have found out that the drain current and transconductance increased by $5\~10\%$ when the $H_2$ gas pressure was 20 atm, which significantly contributed to the reliable operation of the high-density MOSFET devices.